Yokai Sharingan
by Akatsuki King
Summary: UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Redone up to chapter 3. If you read past ch3 it's not rewritten, k? During the break in the chuunin exams, Jiraiya threw Naruto off a cliff to help 'motivate' him into summoning a large toad. The Kyuubi is forced to help out. Will be epic in length. NaruTema.
1. Out of Body Experience

**Author's Notes**: Hey everybody, this story is going to be epic in length and pairings so far are undecided. I'm open for almost any pairing as long as is isn't yaoi. It isn't because I hate yaoi; I just don't like writing it. Also, forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I need a beta-reader.

**Disclaimer**: Today a bar of soap told me I didn't own Naruto, worst day of my life…

Chapter 1

Coolness woke him. His eyes shot open, hands grasping for a kunai, he found one. Head still swimming from the fall, he tried to jump to his feet, almost falling flat on his back when his foot landed smack dab in the middle of a puddle of water. Growling angrily Naruto extracted his foot from the water and tried to shake it dry.

Dull yellow walls lined with dripping pipes stood to either side of him, their once shiny surfaces marred with sooty blackness and cracks. The floor was riddled with puddles of water. But what really drew his attention were the massive gates directly in front of him. To say they were huge wouldn't give them due credit. They were even larger than the entrance of Konoha. Strange cryptic symbols ran from every corner of the room to a small piece of paper with the word _seal _inscribed upon it, stuck squarely in the middle of the gates. Weirdly enough, the paper seemed to be the only thing holding them shut.

The gates consisted of metal bars larger around than Naruto himself, and taller than the Hokage building. Curious, Naruto began edging toward the entrance, wondering what lay beyond.

Two cat-like crimson eyes appeared amid the inky blackness behind the gate. Burning red as coals, they looked down at Naruto. A dark hatred lurked within those eyes, ancient and foreboding. A terrible, snarling smile grinned into existence below the massive orbs, wicked fangs gleaming threateningly in the dim light.

"So, the hairless ape has decided to show its face." The bodiless mouth grinned wider at its own words before the rest of its form flickered into existence. It was a thing born of nightmares; a colossal, foxlike beast that reeked of blood and death. Nine tails unfurled behind it, coiling and uncoiling like snakes preparing to strike.

"Kyu-Kyuubi…" Naruto whispered, tripping over his tongue when a suffocating wave of killing intent hit him.

"Why are you here boy?" The demon snarled, its lips pulling back to further expose its fangs.

Naruto stalled for a moment. Why was he here anyways? The last thing he remember he was training with ero-sennin and… oh shit! The bastard tossed him off a cliff!

Fear cast aside he matched the fox's unblinking glare. Whether he liked it or not, he needed the demon's help.

"I've come here to borrow some of your chakra!"

Kyuubi laughed as if in disbelief. It was a deep, bark like laugh that shook the very room, sending dust flying into the air.

"You've got balls kid, I'll give you that. But what makes you worthy to use MY power?"

The killing intent rolling off Kyuubi intensified, but Naruto refused to flinch. He couldn't die, not like this, not before he became Hokage!

"You're trapped inside me right? If I die; you die." Naruto strode purposefully toward the gates, stopping less than an arm's length away. Trying his best to hide the fear welling up inside his chest, he carefully placed one hand on the paper seal that held back the beast. It was warm to the touch, and rough, feeling more like a think leaf of parchment than normal paper.

"This seal binds us together, it connects us." As he spoke Naruto traced the symbols inked upon its surface. They pulsed with an inner power, and somehow served to calm his nerves. "We are going to be stuck together for a long time, assuming this fall doesn't kill me. I don't want us to spend the rest of our lives hating each other."

Naruto paused, trying to find the right words to articulate his thoughts.

"I've felt enough resentment for one lifetime. Enough hate. I'd like it if someday we could learn to work together, maybe even become friends. But for that to happen I have to live. I need you to loan me you're power."

The Kyuubi was quiet for a long while after that. Naruto wasn't sure if that was malice, amusement, or understanding that filled the crimson eyes of the fox, but he was banking on one of the later. After all, from this distance it wouldn't be to hard for the fox to skew him with one of those wickedly curved claws.

"You're either very brave, or very stupid."

Silence.

"But I would rather my container be a headstrong fool than a coward. Just this once human, I'll do you one better. The seal would have forced this to happen sooner or later anyway."

Naruto blinked dumbly for a moment, "What do-?" But it was too late, his surroundings were already fading away to be replaced with the real world.

And he was still falling.

_I don't _feel _any of the Kyuubi's Chakra_… Naruto realized. Still a little dazed, he looked back at the top of the crevice to see Jiraiya's face staring down him. He was surprised to see that everything was moving much more slowly now. And the detail! Every hairline fracture in the rock walls to every freckle on old pervert's face was visible to him.

His surprise turned to anger when he realized Jiraiya was smiling. Smiling! Here he was, plummeting towards an onslaught of rushing water and certain death, and the old perv was smirking like it was some kind of joke!

Rage bubbled up in him, anger long stuffed away, coming to the surface. Why did this always happen to him? Why did he always have shit for luck? He wanted to be up there, to yell at the idiot for throwing him off a cliff. To punch him right in that smirking face of his. There was a twinge in the back of his eyes, and for a split second he felt as if he had lost all definition. He had no body, no consistency, nothing. Then it was gone.

Thawk!

Naruto hit the ground. Hard.

"Ugh." he grunted, the wind knocked out of him from the impact. Grass poked up on either side of his head, tickling his ears. Straining his muscles he tried to get up, only to find he was too dizzy to do so. His head was swimming.

_At least I'm not falling any more._ He thought to himself.

"Naruto, how-?" A large mane of white hair popped into Naruto's field of vision. Was he at the top of the the ravine? Lolling his head to the side he saw he was just about an arm's length from its edge.

"-the fuck was that for!" Naruto managed to breathe out before vertigo overtook him and he blacked out.

* * *

A bell chimed as the door to a prominent flower shop opened and closed with a soft thud. A young girl with pink hair walked up to the counter, where a young blonde-haired girl sat reading one of the newest fashion magazines.

The girl at the counter looked up. "Hey Sakura," was all she said before she returned to the magazine.

The pink-haired girl replied with a sigh, "Ino, can I have a rose?"

"Go ahead. Is it for Lee?" the blonde asked with a frown. She knew that Sakura had been visiting the overly-zealous teen. That fight with Gaara had really done some damage. After all, the kid had protected her from those Sound-nins and pledged to protect her to the death.

"Yeah," Sakura frowned.

Ino sighed, "Well, how is he?"

Sakura suddenly became very interested in the floor, "The doctors said that the damage may be permanent, he may have to end his ninja career."

"I'm sure that they will find a wa-" a tremor, the ground had vibrated. "Did you feel that?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, what was it?"

"I don-" there it was again. The vibrations were bigger. Both girls were silent; waiting to see if it would come again. It did, the ground trembled, the ceiling shook, and the water in the vases rippled.

Simultaneously Ino and Sakura ran towards the door, both fighting to get out at the same time so they could investigate the source. They fell into the street, standing up they brushed off and looked towards the gate.

Just in time to see a toad the size of multiple houses hop over the wall. What was that sticking out of its mouth? A pipe?

In shock, they could only stare dumbfounded as the frog jumped again, towards the center of their village. It landed about ten blocks away, sending tremors that caused the dust in the streets to fly up. It jumped again, not even a block away now, they could see the cement crack when it landed.

On top of the frog an old man with white hair was standing, holding what looked like an orange blob with blond hair. "Naruto," Sakura's eyes widened. She knew what its destination was now. It was making a beeline for the Hokage's Tower. Steeling herself, she grabbed Ino's wrist and took off running as fast as she could after it.

* * *

"What is that boy doing now?" Sarutobi knew Jiraiya was in town, so naturally when he felt the earth begin to quake, he had some inkling as to the cause. Pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger, he prepared himself for the headache that was surely to come.

Getting up, he trudged slowly, almost remorsefully towards the window. True to his prediction, he was met with the sight of Jiraiya going for a joy ride on Gamabunta's back, through the MIDDLE of the village. Sarutobi almost whimpered. The complaints that would be filed, the damages that would need repaired! This would mean a whole new mess of paper work for him!

As he continued to watch his former student progress through the village, a crowd seemed to be growing near the Hokage tower. It seemed quite a few people had figured out where Gamabunta was headed.

ANBU were already gathering around the tower, working as crowd control. Many of them seemed confused or dazed; it must have been their first time seeing a summon of such size.

Why must Jiraiya always make a commotion…? Sarutobi groaned.

Gamabunta made one final leap, landing with an earth shaking thud right outside the tower. Jiraiya leapt off, the large toad dissipating into smoke behind him. Sarutobi frowned when he noticed his former student was carrying an unconscious Naruto.

_This ought to be good_. Sarutobi sat back down in his seat, rubbing his head. Only a minute or so later the self-acclaimed 'super pervert' strode through the door, kicking it shut behind him.

Jiraiya was visibly shaken. _That _worried Sarutobi. Not much took his student by surprise anymore, and this obviously involved Naruto.

Jiraiya laid Naruto down on a bench against the wall, his back to his sensei. The silence grew, lasting minutes, neither party saying a word, until-

"Who were Naruto's parents?"

Silence and a harsh look met his words.

"WHO were they?" Jiraiya repeated, more loudly this time.

"I'm afraid this is a conversation for another time, Jiraiya." Sarutobi's eyes flickered towards a shadowy corner of the room, as if to say, we still have company. In an act of pure speed Jiraiya disappeared, reappearing in the corner of the room. Charging his pointer finger with chakra, he flicked the air. There was a ripple as the well constructed genjutsu unraveled, exposing the ANBU hiding behind it.

"Leave us." Jiraiya voice was stern, but soft. He knew only the Hokage had the authority to dismiss his personal guard. The ANBU looked towards Sarutobi, who waved him off. Without a word the masked ninja moved towards the window before phasing threw it and disappearing.

Their company gone, Jiraiya continued his rant.

"I've suspected it for long enough, but I need to hear it from you. Who-"

"Enough!" Sarutobi growled out, anger and frustration leaking into his voice. "Last I checked I was the Hokage and you, even at your station, are still required to speak to me in a manner fitting my office.

"You storm through _my_ village, cause untold amounts of damage, and scare the populace into a frenzy! It is my turn to ask questions Jiraiya. So why? Why are we having this conversation?

"Why _now_?"

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to look a bit uneasy. He wasn't so sure his former sensei would approve of his 'training methods'.

"I was trying to help Naruto learn to control the Kyuubi's chakra," ...Jiraiya paused, taking a hesitant breath, "sooo I threw him into a canyon-"

Sarutobi face purpled in anger, and he unintentionally let out a spike of killing intent powerful enough to knock civilians unconscious (had there been any present).

"WHAT! How in the hell would that help!"

Jiraiya puffed out his chest defensively, "I was hoping he would borrow some of the demon's chakra and perform Kuchiyose no Jutsu! But instead, he just fell for a few seconds before… disappearing and reappearing beside me. I didn't know what to think of it, until I saw his eyes. At first I wasn't sure, but looking back on it… There is no doubt, he awakened the Sharingan. And not just your normal, run of the mill, three tomo one either. It looked… strange. Sort of like a twisted shuriken or something. I think…I think he used it to teleport out of the canyon somehow."

Silenced reigned throughout, Jiraiya and Sarutobi arguing with their eyes. Sarutobi knew what Jiraiya wanted to hear. He wanted to know who the boy's parents were, to have his long held suspicions confirmed. And with the news of Naruto's eyes activating, Sarutobi would be hard pressed to keep it under wraps.

"I have the Sharingan?" Sensei and Sannin looked towards Naruto. He was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. A foreign look carved into his sharp features; a look that screamed pain and loss.

_How didn't I notice he woke up_?

"That means I'm an Uchiha, right?" Naruto whispered it more as a statement than a question. Instead of the excitement they would have expected in the boy, the look of sadness only seemed to grow deeper into his features.

"Naruto…" Sarutobi whispered; a soft utterance filled only with the sadness of what could not be changed.

Naruto's thoughts were rushing through his head faster than he could process them. It could have all been avoided, this throbbing pain in his chest. The abuse, the hate the village harbored towards him, but most importantly, this feeling of complete isolation, of being alone.

Naruto's bright eyes dulled as he muttered, barely above a whisper, "They didn't want me did they? Because of this demon in me, my family didn't want me…" his voice trailed off. His blue eyes were starting to moisten.

Sarutobi shook his head in denial, "No Naruto! Of course they wanted you, but they died in the attack. With their death, I felt it best to make your heritage an S-class secret. Only my advisers and I know who they were." Sarutobi words were sad, regretful. But the confession only seemed to turn Naruto' sadness into anger.

"Why? Why did you keep it a secret? If people had known, I might have had a family!" Naruto almost screamed. "I wouldn't have been so alone…" He whispered.

"You have to understand, after the attack everything changed!" Sarutobi's voice was shaking as he held back tears, trying to plead with the child before him, to help him understand. "People, good people, were corrupted by fear and hate! The council already wanted you dead Naruto, the Kyuubi saw to that. Could you imagine how scared they would be of a jinchuuriki wielding the Sharingan?

"You'd be too dangerous! Too powerful in their eyes! Even the political might of the Uchiha wouldn't be able to protect you, not with both of your parents dead."

Naruto just laid there, only half listening as Sarutobi tried to explain his actions. Only one thing mattered to Naruto now. He wasn't abandoned like he always feared. His parents wanted him. His parents they…

"Who were they?" Naruto's voice was strong, demanding. He had to know, and refused to be turned away. Not this time.

Sarutobi was silent for a moment, not sure how to say what had to be said. After a moment his shoulders sagged in defeat. Raising his pipe to his lips, he took a long, slow hit before closing his eyes and breathing out. The smoke billowed around his aged face, thick and grey.

It was time for the truth.

"Your mother was Uchiha Hitomi."

"Uchiha... Hitomi..." Naruto repeated the name reverently, committing her name to memory.

A small smile set into Sarutobi's face as he heard Naruto speak her name for the first time. Perhaps finally letting out the truth would be good for his ragged, tired mind.

"She was beautiful. Hair blacker than I've ever seen, with eyes to match. While you look very little like her, you have the same love for life she did. The same energy. I see so much of her little brother Obito in you. Your eyes, they hold the same fire, the same adamantine will his did." Sarutobi stopped to take another drag off his pipe, breathing the smoke out slowly to calm his nerves.

"I suppose you might want to know a bit about her ninja career? It was her genjutsu that made her famous, or infamous depending on where you are from. She was Konoha's first Genjutsu Mistress. And Kami was she good. Compared to her, Kurenai looks like a toddler playing with finger paints." Sarutobi's smile grew at that, remembering the first time Hitomi managed to trap him in one of her Genjutsu.

Naruto grinned. His mother sounded so strong! He absent-mindedly wondered if she would be proud of him as he was now. Would he be strong enough to live up to her reputation? Thoughts turning back to the present, he stood up, to full of nervous energy to stay sitting down. Steeling himself, he turned back towards the Hokage.

"And my father?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly. Of everything Naruto learned today, he knew this would be that one piece of information that would change him the most; he just hoped it was for the best

"His name was Namikaze Minato. I'm surprised with how much you look like him; it's almost like looking into the past." Sarutobi set his pipe down, tapping the remaining Tabaco and ash out and into a dirty ash tray.

"I've never seen a ninja move like he did. I swear the boy was born with a kunai in one hand and an explosive note in the other. He was one the strongest ninja I ever knew." Sarutobi smiled fondly in memory of the man he had come to love as a grandson. "He loved this village and your mother more than anything else, and when he found out she was pregnant… He was happier than he had ever been-"

Jiraiya tuned Sarutobi out, closing his eyes to hide his regret. So it was true then? That made Naruto was his godson. He had always suspected, but never pushed the matter, trusting in the Hokage to keep the boy safe. He knew now, knew that he had made a mistake and shirked his duty. The boy had been left alone, to rot in a village that hated him.

Back to the Third's monologue.

"-you may know him as the Yellow Flash, or the Forth Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Huh?"

* * *

"Okay Naruto, I want you to push your chakra out of both hands into the leaves. If you do it right then they will stick to the palm of your hand. If you push too much chakra into it then the leaf will be torn apart, while if you push to little chakra into it, the leaf will simply fall off."

Naruto was sitting with his legs crossed, and hands palm-up, propped up against his knees — a leaf rested in each hand. Jiraiya said that this was supposed to be a chakra control exercise that medic-nins used to help them master their amount of chakra output. That was the reason it was chosen. Naruto had horrible chakra control, and this was a perfect technique for drastically increasing his.

"But Jiraiya, isn't it the same basic idea as tree climbing? I can do that no problem." Naruto asked in a questioning tone.

"In a way, yes. The difference is that tree climbing takes considerably more chakra. You have to master using less chakra at a constant pace."

The Chuunin exam was in less than three weeks. So naturally the Hokage sent him to the middle of nowhere to train with the same pervert who had the gall to throw him off a cliff. At least jii-san had been nice enough to send a few scrolls of fire jutsu with them. Not that Naruto had seen hide or tail of the scrolls since they left.

"But before we start, I want to test out a theory of mine." Naruto jumped to his feet without a moment's pause, excited to try something aside from chakra control training.

"First things first, create a Kage Bushin."

Naruto gave him a curious look before forming the ram seal. One poof of smoke later and a carbon copy of the boy was standing next to him.

"You stay here and have your clone follow me, alright?" Naruto nodded, and his clone followed Jiraiya into the nearby forest. Naruto absentmindedly rocked on the balls of his feet as he waited for his new 'sensei' to return. A second later Jiraiya emerged from the trees, followed by a sour looking Naruto-clone.

"What was the point of all that?" Naruto asked curiously.

Jiraiya smirked, he hoped this worked. It would save him a great deal of time in training the boy if it did. "You'll see." And with that he gave the clone a good smack in the back of the head, hard enough to dissipate it into smoke.

Naruto's face scrunched up in displeasure before groaning unhappily. "Whatdoya mean we'll be doing nothing but chakra exercises all week?"

Jiraiya smiled innocently. "What? Who told you that?"

Naruto crossed his arms angrily. "You did! Right after we walked into the woods!"

"No, I never told _you _anything. You stayed right here remember?" Jiraiya finished, waiting for his point to get across.

"No, we-!" Naruto stopped mid-sentence, dropping the finger he had been pointing accusatorily at the older man. Technically he hadn't followed Jiraiya into the woods, his clone had.

"The point of this little exercise was to show you the secondary function of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, memory transference. Everything your clones learn, you will remember when they dispel." Naruto continued to give him a blank stare. Jiraiya sighed, seeing Naruto hadn't quite grasped what he was getting at.

"Okay, let's say you create a shadow clone and you both train on a chakra control exercise for an hour. When you dispel that clone, you remember everything it did, which means you have finished two hours of training in one hour."

Naruto's face slowly morphed into one of understanding. "So I can cut how long it takes me to learn that leaf exercise in half by training with a Kage Bunshin?"

If anything, Jiraiya's smile only got bigger, "Why stop there? I know you can create hundreds of clones. If you train with, 500 clones for example, training that could take you weeks or months can be completed in a few hours."

Understanding settled over Naruto's mind. That meant he'd have this leaf exercise done before the day was over. Who knows what else he could learn in three weeks if he trained with all the clones he could summon? Flashing a foxy grin, Naruto formed the ram seal and-

"Hey, don't rush things just yet. First I want you to activate your Sharingan."

Naruto nodded, breaking the ram seal and letting his arms fall to his sides. Focusing on his chakra, he began channeling more into his eyes. At first there was nothing, but then it happened. He didn't feel a change so much as he saw it. An accelerated perception of time, how he picked out details that before he overlooked, and the clarity! It was like a film had been pulled back from his eyes.

"Everything looks so… beautiful." Naruto whispered, slightly awed at how differently he could see the world.

"I can only imagine." Jiraiya muttered, only half listening to Naruto. A frown scarred his face as he studied Naruto's eyes. "But you only have the normal, three-tomo Sharingan activated. When you first used your eyes they looked more like a four-pronged shuriken (**AN**: think Uchiha Shisui's advanced Sharingan eye)

"Huh? What's the difference?"

"If I'm correct, it was the other form of your eyes that allowed you to teleport out of the canyon. I need you to activate them so we can figure out how they work."

Naruto's face lit up. "I can teleport?! Awesome! Only, erm, how do I do I activate them?"

Jiraiya's scratched his chin, variables turning over in his head. "To be honest? I'm not entirely sure. But I have a few theories. First things first, how many clones can you make?"

Naruto scrunched up his face as he counted in his head. "The most I've ever made at once was like 600 or something."

"Ok, I want to make as many as you can. Push as much chakra as you can into the technique, we need to figure out your limits before we proceed."

Nodding, Naruto threw his hands up in the ram seal. Blue chakra started to rise from his body, billowing out like smoke.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. More and more chakra surrounded him, forming a blue, semi-translucent cloud.

_More…_ Naruto dug deeper into his reserves, drawing out as much chakra as he could muster. His silhouette could barely be made out through dense, ever growing cloak of chakra.

_Is this all I have?_ Naruto wondered. He had never been in a situation where he needed to draw out ALL of his chakra. Basically he had no idea what his limitations were, or even what chakra exhaustion felt like.

Naruto smirked. There. He had found more, a spark of power not yet drawn upon. Red chakra bubbled from his flesh, mixing with the blue to form an opaque purple. Oblivious to the fact he was drawing upon the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto only strained harder to coax more and more of it out.

_This feels weird._ _This chakra… _The scent of blood filled his nose, and he could taste copper on his tongue. _It's just like when I used Kyuubi's chakra on the bridge in wave! _

Realization dawned upon Naruto. Quickly he pushed all the chakra he had drawn upon into his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

The sound of hundreds of clones popping into existence filled the air and the dense shroud of chakra that encircled Naruto disappeared into the technique.

Naruto fell to his hands and knees panting. His exhaustion was momentary, as the Kyuubi's chakra quickly flooded his body once more, coursing through his coils like a tidal wave.

Naruto's eyes shot open, the tomo in his Sharingan blending together in one fluid moment. In their place sat a black, twisted, four-pronged star amid a red iris.

"2350." Naruto's voice was deeper, more guttural. "2350 clones. But I'm not sure how many were made from the Kyuubi's chakra. I didn't mean to use it, I just felt the spark and…" he trailed off.

"I see. I think I figured it out."

"Huh? Figured what out?"

"It seems, at least for now, that you need to use the power of the Kyuubi to fully awaken your eyes. I'm sure threw training we can learn to overcome that limitation, but for now it will work. Divide your clones up into two groups; it's time for the real training to begin."

* * *

**Author's notes**: Just in case someone didn't know, Obito was Kakashi's teammate. He is the one that gave Kakashi his Sharingan-eye.

Vote for pairings. Tell me what you like and dislike. Peace.


	2. Nobility Sucks

**Author's Note**s: Hey everybody, I've got another chapter up! YES! Anyway, remember to vote for pairings, just no yaoi. Forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I need a beta reader. And if you don't like something I write, please tell me why. I hope you all like the orange shirt; I just couldn't get rid of his color.

**Disclaimer**: you remember that soap… I washed its mouth out. Nah, but seriously, I don't own the Naruto. Sad fishie

ENTER, Yamanaka Ino

Ino and Sakura pushed their way through the crowd outside the Hokage's building.

_Grr, I hate civilians!_ Ino practically snarled in frustration, shoving past another random nobody in the ever growing throng. A surprisingly large number of people had reached the tower before Sakura and her, and moving through them was becoming borderline ridiculous.

Ino's eyes widened in surprise as she finally managed to break through to the other side. Civilians had surrounded the tower entirely, or at least it looked that way from her vantage point. Some seemed simply curious, others enraged, and many more looked afraid. Their voices boomed and blurred together, a deafening roar of confusion and complaints.

"-ho was th-"

"-what is going-"

"-IANT FROG CRUSHED MY STAND! I DEMAND TO-"

"-carrying the demon brat-"

"-okage this instant or I'll-"

_All this because of one toad?_ It seemed almost surreal, in a strange way, how differently these people reacted to the large creature's walk – or hop? – through the village.

ANBU kept the crowd at bay, pushing them back and keeping them from reaching the doors. Most people didn't dare get close to the ninja, content to yell from the sidelines.

_Pfft, cowards._ Ino thought idly. She could feel Sakura's grip tighten briefly on her wrist. She sent the pinkette a curious look over her shoulder.

_Well?_ Ino's eyes clearly stated. Sakura made a face, before pointing at an ANBU wearing a bird mask escorting a man through the crowd. The older 'gentleman' he was handling was practically frothing at the mouth. He was yelling something about his cabbages getting crushed by 'a colossal, wart-covered monstrosity', as he so aptly called it. Must have gotten to frisky with the ANBU, Ino guessed.

_He'll probably drag the guy to a cell and let him rot until he cools off._

Ino raised an eyebrow, sending Sakura a look that said, _and I care why?_

Sakura wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, before sending her a pleading look. Ino groaned exasperatedly. She knew exactly what forehead-girl wanted, but the shit she could get into for possessing an ANBU… Then again, she _was_ pretty curious about what was going on in that tower, and exactly how Naruto was involved...

_Alight, we just better not get caught!_ Ino thought to herself. She pushed back through the crowd, dragging Sakura along. After a few awkward incidents they finally broke through the other side.

_Where'd you go, Bird-san?_ Ino thought as she took off running towards the detention center, eyes scanning the area for their target.

"Left!" Ino spun on her heel, taking Sakura's directions in stride. Sure enough, there was the irate looking ANBU, dragging the still struggling civilian behind him. At least the man had stopped yelling. _If anything he looks ready to crap himself. _Ino noticed, rolling her eyes.

_Stupid mob mentality! Brave in a group, chicken-shit scared on your own._

"Sakura, distract him."

The pinkette nodded, taking off to the roofs. Ino eyes flickered nervously between the target and the rooftops, hoping the ANBU wouldn't notice as Sakura surpassed him and landed on the road a few streets ahead. Luckily the mask wearing ninja seemed pretty occupied keeping the civilian in check.

Ino couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she saw Sakura round the corner just a block away from the ANBU.

Sakura now walked down the sidewalk, heading towards their target. As the pinkette fully turned the corner, she seemed to go a bit wide-eyed before breaking into a smile, as if just noticing the ninja. That was when Ino realized Sakura's headband and weapons pouch were gone. Not only that, but the she seemed to lack the grace most ninja moved with.

_Good acting._ Ino noted, almost surprised at how easily her friend was playing the wide eyed civilian girl.

"Excuse me, Bird-san!" Sakura exclaimed, waving down the oncoming ANBU.

The ninja stopped, seemingly to observe the girl before him.

_Keep him occupied Sakura! I can't have him moving around or looking this way!_ Ino prayed silently, creeping closer to the hopefully unsuspecting ANBU. After all, what did he have to fear in his home village, this close to the Hokage tower no less?

Readying her hand-signs Ino checked to make sure Sakura still had the ANBU's attention. _Hope this works! _

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino breathed, quietly. Her mental energy propelled forward, hitting him in the back. His body froze for a second, as her mind rushed in and his faded to the background.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu, success." She/he said, her voice much deeper. Turning to the civilian still in her grasp, she loosened her hold a tad.

"Now tell me sir, have you learned your lesson?" The man looked up at her, hope in his eyes, before nodding furiously. "Then behave yourself. Tomorrow go to the census office, get the proper paper work and file a complaint like everyone else. Now go!" Ino let go of the man, letting him run off like a kicked puppy.

"Ino, how long can you keep control?" The Ino possessed ANBU turned around to see Sakura holding her now limp body.

"I'm not sure. It's harder to keep these more powerful minds in check." Ino stated offhandedly, messing around with the man's voice to try and find one that fit. "Bring my body back to your place; I'll head to the tower. I should have no trouble getting in as long as I'm in this body. Okay?"

Sakura nodded, swallowing the lump that had begun to form in her throat. _Oh my god, I convinced Ino to possess an ANBU. If we get caught… _

"Ino, mess with his memories while you're in there. I don't want him to remember my face."

Ino sent her friend an understanding look before forming a seal and closing her eyes. "Don't worry, this jutsu will trick his mind into making false memories, beginning from the moment I took over and ending with the moment I leave. He won't even know I was here."

Sakura seemed to relax a little after hearing that, though worry was still evident on her face.

"No time to waste, this guy's mind is stronger than I expected. Keeping him suppressed is burning through my chakra." With that Ino took off to the roof tops, heading once more for to the tower.

Sakura slung Ino's real body over her shoulder, sending a worried look in the Yamanaka's direction.

_Be careful._

* * *

Ino finally reached the Hokage's office. It hadn't been particularly difficult to get past everyone. Things were about as hectic inside the tower as there were outside. Everyone was too busy running around to worry about one ANBU agent. Taking post outside the door, she pretended she was standing guard.

After a few seconds of attempting to eavesdrop, she realized it was impossible to hear anything through the thick mahogany doors. Looking over her shoulder to ensure she was alone, Ino signed quickly before muttering, "Naiji no Jutsu!" (Inner ear technique).

The effect was instantaneous. Chakra flooded her ears, enhancing her hearing to the point that she could make out muffled voices through the wall.

_I still can't understand what they are saying. Subduing this guy's consciousness is taking up way more of my reserves than expected! But if I channel any more chakra into my Naiji no Jutsu it could degrade my Shintenshin no Jutsu. I could lose control in a matter of minutes. _Gritting her teeth in frustration, Ino made her choice. Forming the ram seal, she channeled even more chakra to her ears.

It worked. But she could feel her hold over the ANBU begin to weaken.

"-there is no doubt, he awakened the Sharingan. And not just yo -" Ino gasped quietly, momentarily loosing concentration. The Sharingan? But, that old man on the toad, she was sure he had been carrying Naruto! Refocusing on her technique, she waited for more to be said, cursing under her breath for her temporary loss of control. What if she missed something important?

"I have the Sharingan?" Ino blanched. That voice was undoubtedly Naruto's. How could he-?

"That means I'm an Uchiha, right?" Ino's head was reeling. Naruto an Uchiha? But the blond was a clown, a joker! She grudgingly admitted he was decently powerful for genin, but an Uchiha? Seriously?

Then again… the whisker marked boy had been an orphan his whole life, that was no great secret. Perhaps he was half Uchiha? His mother the mistress of some noble in the clan, forced to give up the child for risk of exposing their affair?

"Naruto…" She heard old-man Hokage whisper the name.

"They didn't want me did they?" Ino's eyes grew wider still. She had never heard Naruto sound like this. His voice was quivering with unshed tears, sad and dejected. It was the voice of a broken child.

Naruto must have been whispering now, his voice was so quiet she could only hear half of what he said. "Because… this… they didn't want… did they?" Ino strained her ears, trying to decipher what he was saying.

"No Naruto! Of course they wanted you!" Ino almost cried out in pain at the sound of the Hokage nearly yelling that. _FUUUUUUUU****!_ She screamed internally, resisting the urge to cradle her head. Her ears still ringing, she refocused her attention to their conversation.

"-died in the attack! With their death, I felt it best to make your heritage an S-class secret. Only my advisors and I know who they were." Ino frowned. Why make it an S-class secret? Why not hand him over to the Uchiha's? There were so many orphans after the Kyuubi attack; surely someone would have taken him in? Then again, not giving him to the Uchiha's had probably saved him from dying during the clan wide massacre.

"Why? Why did you keep it a secret? If people had known, I might have had a family!" Naruto was almost screaming now, not that she could blame him. His voice got quiet again, "I wouldn't have been alone…"

Just then, she felt a tug on her sprit — she was about to be forcefully expunged from her host. _Damn it! He hasn't even said the parents' names yet! Hurry the fuck up! _

"You have to understand, after the attack everything chaaaaannnggee-" last word seemed to stretch out, garbled up like it was spoken under water. Timed slowed as her consciousness began to slip out of her host. This was it, her time was up. Not willing to risk exposure, she cancelled both techniques.

"FUCK!" Ino screamed as her mind flew back into her body. She lurched into an upright position, panting heavily from chakra exhausting.

Bursts of color clouded her vision and she tried not to faint, she felt like she was a bobble head on a rollercoaster. This is why she hated being booted from a host's body. Everything was all funky afterwards, and it gave her SUCH a headache. Rubbing her temples she looked around, happy to see that the world had finally stopped spinning. Where was she again? Oh right, Sakura's apartment. Groaning uncomfortably, she leaned deeper into the couch she was sitting on.

"Well?" Ino nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Sakura's voice. She was still collecting her bearings darn it!

"Kami Sakura! Lower your eleven down to a seven, and save some decibels for later, alright? You know how my head hurts after something like that." Ino hissed, shooting the pinkette a withering glare.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "stop being such a drama queen and tell me what happened. Did you find out why Naruto was on top of that toad?"

Ino smirked. "Not exactly, but what I did find out is so worth the headache."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow at that. _Must be something pretty juicy_.

"Why don't you make some tea and I'll tell you everything."

Sakura snorted exasperatedly, before pointing at two already poured cups steaming on the coffee table between them.

"Already done, now spill."

* * *

TIME SKIP, Day of the finals

"Oi kid, we're here." Jaraiya said, nodding towards the gates just down the road.

Naruto grinned, blonde hair glistening in the afternoon sun. His trip had seen him a change in outfit (for some reason Jiraiya just didn't appreciate the beauty that was his orange-jumpsuit). Instead, he sported a burnt-orange t-shirt that was quite a few shades darker than his jumpsuit had been. A black jacket hung close to his shoulders, the cloth reinforced with steel plates and mesh for added defense. Two navy blue stripes ran down the hem on each side, and a red spiral was embroidered on its back. To match he wore a pair of standard ANBU issue black pants. They were similarly reinforced, and an Uchiha symbol the size of a quarter was sown onto one of the multiple pockets.

Reaching the gates, Naruto gave a friendly wave to one of the guards as they swung open. Taking his first steps back into Konoha after the three week long training trip, Naruto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This place just felt right to him, deep in his bones. It was in the air. Crisp and clean, it smelled of cut grass and leaves.

"Yaiyai, Naruto. You have just over three hours till your match, anything you want to do before we head there?" Jiraiya questioned before elbowing the blond to get his attention.

Naruto's opened his mouth to respond just as his stomach rumbled loud enough to make the Sannin jump in surprise. The boy laughed sheepishly, before fist pumping the air and yelling, "TIME FOR RAMEN!"

Jiraiya sweat dropped. "Naruto, do you eat anything _besides _ramen?"

"Of course I do! It's just that Ichiraku's is the best!" Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

Jiraiya resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, I'm going to have a word with Sarutobi before the tournament starts. Don't be late, and don't over eat! Alrigh-" Naruto ran off, cutting Jiraiya's lecture short.

"Sorry ero-sennin! To hungry to wait! See you later, Ja Ne!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder. He took to the rooftops, a common mode of travelling for ninja of Konoha. Jumping quickly from one to the next, he was able to make a beeline straight to his favorite restaurant. After a few minutes he jumped down to the road, weaving through people until he reached the ramen stand.

Popping in past the entry way, Naruto was pleased to see that even though the stand was rather busy his favorite chair was currently empty. Taking a seat, he promptly grabbed a pair of chopsticks and waited to be served. It took him second or two to realize how quiet it had gotten.

_That's weird. There are way too many people in here for it to be so quiet._ Confused he looked over his shoulder, to find over half the people there looking his way. They quickly looked away, trying playing it off like some odd coincidence.

The fuck? What are they looking at? Something on my head? He did a routine check of his hair to make sure a man-eating spider hadn't somehow got caught in it. _Nope._ Passing it off as one of those 'Kyuubi hater' things, Naruto just scowled. _Fi__ne. I'll just eat and go._ Ignoring them, he turned back towards the counter to see Teuchi smiling warmly at him.

"And what will it be today Naruto-sama?"

'_Naruto…sama?_' Whatever. It was probably just one of his old guy jokes. He gave a genuine smile, "Four bowls of the misu pork please!"

Teuchi smiled, and gave a laugh, "You must have some kind of record for eating ramen, wonder where it all goes." Teuchi wrote down the order and walked back to the kitchen to help Ayame.

Naruto waited for three grueling minutes. He could still feel a few people staring at him, but at least conversation had resumed, breaking the weird silence that had befallen the ramen stand. Why had everybody reacted like that?

Ayame emerged from the back, a bowl of steaming hot misu pork cradled in her hands.

"Here you are, Naruto-sama." Naruto blanched. Ayame too? Why was everyone being so weird?

"Ayame, why did you call me sama? And why did everyone stopped talking when I walked into the room? I swear I can STILL feel people staring at me." Naruto puffed his cheeks out in annoyance, cracking his chopsticks apart as he prepared to eat.

Ayame turned to face him, a slight blush played across her cheeks, confusing him further. Had he embarrassed her? Why was she turning red like that?

"Naruto-sama, I believe they were showing their respect by being silent when you first enter a room."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Why would they show respect towards me? The village all pretty much hates me… And stop calling me sama." Ayame's blush deepened a little.

"Umm, Naruto-sam-" she stopped mid-sentence when Naruto gave her an irritated look. "Naruto-_san_," She corrected quickly, "you are an Uchiha, one of the last still in Konoha. They show their respect."

Naruto was speechless. How had they found out? Conversation died down again as almost everyone in the room was eavesdropping. He sighed defeatedly.

"There is no need to call me 'sama' or to stop talking when I enter a room, so please quit it! For goodness sakes Ayame, you've known me for as long as I can remember! Treating me differently now, it's really weirding me out. I mean, we're friends, right?

"Plus, how do you know I'm an Uchiha? I haven't told anybody yet."

Ayame's eyes grew wide as realization hit. "Have you been away this entire time?"

"What? I've only been gone for like three weeks." Naruto muttered confusedly.

Ayame nervously played the hem of her apron, unsure of what to say. It was Teuchi who finally spoke up, having walked back in during the middle of their conversation.

"Ehh, a few weeks ago a rumor started going around that you were an Uchiha. Most people thought it was just some joke, or a prank. After all, you are sort of infamous for those. But the rumors didn't die. They just snowballed, growing crazier every day, until the Hokage finally got involved. I guess he wanted to stop them from getting much worse. It was just a few days ago, he announced to the village that your mother was Uchiha Hitomi."

Naruto stared blankly at the ramen chief, processing all that had been said.

"…well shit."

* * *

ENTER, Chuunin Exam Finals

Naruto adjusted his forehead protector with one hand, twiddling a kunai with his other. A sour expression was plastered across his face, reflecting the annoyance and confusion that spun inside his head. He hadn't spent half as much time as planned at Ichiraku's. In fact, he didn't even finish his entire order.

_So what, the Hokage snaps his fingers and suddenly the villagers don't hate every fiber of my being? _ Naruto snorted in annoyance. It made him feel almost sick how they did a complete 180 with their attitude.

_Why does it bug me so much?_ Truth be told, he had no idea why it bothered him to such an extent. His name was no longer being spat out like a curse word, shouldn't he be happy? Wasn't this what he always wanted? The respect and recognition of the village?

_Yeah, but I didn't earn it._ And that's what truly drove it home for him. He hadn't changed! He hadn't done some great heroic act! Nothing was different about him, nothing except his surname and the Sharingan. Yet suddenly everyone was all, Naruto-same this and Naruto-sama that. It was like they were in some damnable trance.

_Even my peers._ Here he was, in the waiting room with the other finalists. Normally he'd be joking around with Shikamaru or Shino; they were his fellow rookies after all. But the moment he walked into the room they all went silent, just like at Ichiraku's! He could still feel Shikamaru looking at him with those calculating eyes, as if sizing him up. It was unnerving to say the least.

"Hey, Naruto." It was Shikamaru who spoke first, ending the awkward silence. "You still a dope?" Naruto sweat dropped.

"Pfft, you still a lazy ass?" He retorted jokingly.

"…so troublesome."

_Okay, so maybe things aren't so different after all. _Naruto let a smile tug at his lips, happy to see some normalcy return to his life.

Naruto's head jerked to the side as he heard the contestants being called to the field by the proctor. He shot a look over at Neji's retreating form before jumping over the railing of the booth. Flooding one of his hands with chakra, he pushed it against the wall as he fell to slow his decent. Landing with a light thud he walked to the center of the arena, waiting for the rest of the genin to arrive.

After a few minutes everyone had gathered in front of the proctor. It was some jounin who was absentmindedly chewing on a sebon. It was then Naruto noticed his teammate was missing, along with that weird mummy guy from hidden sound.

_You better make it teme!_ Naruto thought, pouting slightly at the idea of his teammate missing his match. He wanted to defeat Neji in front of everyone, but even more than that, he wanted to show Kaka-sensei and Sasuke how strong he had become.

_Even without their help._

"Listen up genin! The chuunin finals are about to commence. The rules are simple: you win by forfeit or knockout. Killing your opponent is not permitted unless unavoidable, is that clear?" The jonin paused for a moment, giving each genin a pointed look. "This is not a survival test, but rather a chance for you to showcase your skills. If at any time you don't feel able to continue, do not hesitate to forfeit."

His little speech over, the sebon chewing Jonin waved lazily back up at the booth. "First match will be between Uchiha Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. The rest of you can return to the waiting room."

'_Uchiha Naruto? Did old man Hokage have my name legally changed?_' Naruto frowned at the thought before shaking his head. _I need to focus on my fight. _He waited until everyone had filed out of the arena before facing his opponent.

Something most people didn't know about Naruto was how much he hated being alone. Underneath his bravado and that shit-eating grin, there was a hurt child who wants nothing more than to be part of a family. As an orphan it was his greatest dream, something he wanted even more the Hokage's hat.

The way Naruto saw it, you protected your family, and they protected you. They loved each other unconditionally, through everything.

And Neji had tried to kill part of his family.

There was no way Hinata could have deserved it. Naruto didn't know the girl too well, but even he could tell that she was nothing more than a sweet, caring, if somewhat overly quiet girl.

That was why he swore to defeat Neji. He couldn't understand how someone could have those connections, those ties, and be so willing to sever them. The anger Naruto felt during the prelims began to bubble up once more, like blood seeping out of a reopened wound.

"Hajime!" The proctor called. Their match had begun.

"You may as well give up now." Neji sneered. "This match was decided the second I was picked as you opponent."

Naruto brushed off the remark, not dignifying it with a response. Instead, he widened his stance and flooded his eyes with chakra. His ones blue pools swirled into red as his pupil dilated and split into the three tomo of the Sharingan.

"You think your newly acquired Sharingan will help you win? A loser like you could never hope to fully master such an ability, let alone in a single month's time. I've been training with my bloodline since birth." Neji scoffed, as if the very idea was ludicrous. "In what world could you possibly defeat me?"

The tomo in Naruto's eyes spun angrily, and he flooded the arena with killing intent. It hit upon Neji like a ton of bricks, forcing the Hyuuga to take a step back.

"You can underestimate me if you want. It just makes it that much easier to defeat you." Naruto growled out, flaring his chakra wildly. He could barely restrain himself from charging access the field and bludgeoning the bastard.

_God I want to punch that smirk off your face!_ But he didn't move. He held back, holding his stance. Jiraiya had made one thing very clear to him, let Neji attack first. If it came down to an all-out taijutsu battle, Neji would win. Even with the kata's Ero-sennin let him copy, he wouldn't stand a chance. Neji was faster, and his style was more suited for such close range combat.

Instead, Naruto had to draw the brunette into a so called 'dead zone' *(**AN**: got the idea from _Freedom Has a Price_, by Bleedndreamz. Great story btw). The idea was simple. Keep Neji out of arms reach, just far enough away he couldn't utilize any of those devastating juuken strikes, but close enough he couldn't spam Naruto with Kunai or shuriken.

There was only one problem with such a tactic, _how do you keep him there?_

"Do you truly think you can win? How foolish."

Naruto snarled as his rage grew. He started forward, but stopped at the last second, barely able to restrain himself from attacking. _Stick to the plan!_ He chided mentally. He would show this cocky bastard.

Finally deciding he had waited long enough, the veins around Neji's eyes bulged with chakra. "Byakugan!" Neji shot forward, taking the offensive. His form almost blurred, even before Naruto's Sharingan.

_So fast!_ Naruto only had a couple seconds before Neji would be upon him. Without performing so much as a handseal, five shadow clones poofed into existence, charging to meet the Hyuuga. They met not far from the original, just far enough away for his plan to begin.

Smirking, Naruto began to sign swiftly. Before he had even finished the first hand seal, one of his clones popped, destroyed by a welled aimed juuken to the stomach.

_Go haywire Neji, it won't matter. There's no way you can defeat them in time to dodge. _Poof! There went the second. A third popped just as Naruto finished the last handseal. Naruto raised his pointer and middle finger to his lips, inhaling deeply, before pouring as much chakra as he safely could into the technique. The result was spectacular. White hot fire spewed from his mouth, the flames melding together to form a behemoth sized dragon.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile)"

Neji was in deep shit and he knew it. He had almost laughed when the blond charged him with five shadow clones. They wouldn't last a minute of close range combat against him. It wasn't until Neji destroyed clone number three and saw the flames start to fly that he realized their true purpose. Naruto had had effectively trapped him. He was too close to dodge such a large jutsu, but not close enough to attack the blond and disrupt it.

_He played me._ Neji realized. _How could I fall for something so obvious?_

"Kaiten! (Heavenly Spin)" Neji shouted, already spinning as he expelled chakra from every one of his 365 tenketsu points. The remaining two clones popped as the chakra threw them back. The swirling sphere surrounded him completely just as the Katon jutsu hit. The elemental dragon dissolved into an inferno that completely engulfed his Kaiten. The roaring flames cackled for a second, forming a miniature sun before exploding like a thousand brilliant fireworks.

_Wow… that's never happened before. _Naruto wondered, surprised by the unusual display. The Kaiten, or whatever Neji had called it, seemed to be a defensive jutsu that worked by spinning chakra around the user at high speeds. The 'miniature sun' that was formed must have been a result of the flames spinning with the technique.

There was a surprising amount of smoke blanketing the area. It rose from the blackened pit that had once been unmarked earth, contaminating the air with soot.

After a few seconds the smoke cleared enough to see Neji's shadowy outline, still standing in the exactly the same position. His clothing was singed slightly, and his hair seemed to be smoking a bit, but aside from that the flames hadn't touched him.

Naruto lost himself for a moment, mentally awed that Neji had been able to completely defend against such an attack. Part of him was glad. As much as he hated the stuck up bastard he didn't want to turn him into charcoal, just… maim him a little. His temporary lack of focus cost him. Neji shot forward, closing the distance before Naruto had a chance to react.

"You are within my range of divination." The older boy growled out, anger burning in his eyes. "Bow before a power you cannot change!"

The first few strikes hurt the worst. The blows shook his body, chakra enhanced hits that vibrated his very being. The foreign chakra invaded his coils, closing his tenketsu. After that, his body began to feel numb, lessening the pain.

"16 strikes!" Neji shouted, his hands a blur.

"32 strikes!" Neji called out again.

"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji finished the attack with a particularly powerful bow to his chest, sending Naruto flying back. The blond landed with a meaty thud, sprawled on the ground motionless.

"Proctor, call the match. He won't be getting up."

FUCK! Naruto screamed in his mind. His dead zone tactic worked, for all of five damn seconds. It was his failure to follow up that ruined it. _I feel like I've been pulped…_ Naruto's brain churned through different battle scenarios in a mad attempt to come up with a back-up plan that didn't involve slaughtering the Hyuuga. Rolling onto his side Naruto tried to regain control of his mushy feeling limbs. _Time to wing it…_

"Don't… don't you dare turn your back to me." Naruto called out, now on his hands and knees panting heavily. Being cut off from so much of one's chakra was tiring, and Naruto had never felt so weak.

"Do you not understand? Your Katon jutsu was unable to break my defense. And after that attack you won't be able to use your chakra. Kneel before a power you cannot overcome, and accept your fate."

Naruto struggled to stand. His muscles yelled at him, screaming their pain. Could chakra coils bruise? If they could, his would surely be one giant welt. He squeezed his eyes shut, exerting every bit of strength he had. Slowly he managed to rise up and out of the dirt. Standing shakily, he stared into Neji's unblinking eyes.

"How could you…" Naruto breathe out angrily, thinking back to the preliminaries and Hinata's broken form. "How could you attack you own family with the intent to kill?" He could feel his anger growing.

"What did she do to deserve that!?" Naruto yelled enraged, his Sharingan blazing back into life as chakra exploded from his body in a wave of blue. His form rippled from underneath the blanket of azure chakra as tenketsu point after tenketsu point burst open.

_How? _Neji's eyes widened in surprise as he watched more and more chakra pour out of the blond. Forcing your tenketsu points open was very difficult. It usually required medic level chakra control, or years of training in juuken. Few jounin outside of his clan could accomplish it. But what Naruto had done by-passed the need for training or chakra control. To put it simply, the blond had thrown a huge amount of chakra against his coils, akin to taking a battering ram to a door. Sure he managed to open the door, but the risk of permanent damage was massive and the amount of chakra required was staggering. It should have hurt like hell, but the Naruto didn't even flinch.

_This guy is unreal! First with that ridiculously powerful fire technique, and now this. His chakra, it's ridiculous!_

The chakra began to recede back Naruto's coils until only a slight shimmer of blue was left, hovering above his skin like smoke rising from a flame.

"Against someone like you… Someone who would try to kill their own flesh and blood, I will hold nothing back!" Drawing upon an almost insignificant amount of the Kyuubi's chakra, he channeled it all into his eyes.

"Yokai Sharingan!" Naruto's shouted, as the three tomo in his Sharingan-eyes swirled together to shape a twisted black, four-pronged star.

"It doesn't matter what tricks you have up your sleeve. You cannot escape your fate." Neji calmly called out, sliding into another taijutsu stance.

"FUCK FATE!" Forming a single handseal, three clones popped into existence. "Jikukan no Bunshin Daibakuha (Time-space Clone Great Explosion)!" As soon as the last word fell from Naruto's lips, the clones disappeared. No flash, no smoke, just gone. Before anyone could blink they reappeared in a ring around Neji, surrounding him.

_What the-_ A teleportation technique? But time-space ninjutsus were incredibly rare and nearly impossible to use in battle! In the entire history of Konoha there were maybe a handful of people capable of preforming them.

"Kai!" Naruto yelled, and the clones' chakras flared, becoming unstable.

"Kaiten!" The Hyuuga barely had time to initiate his heavenly spin technique before they exploded.

Naruto wasted no time in creating two more shadow clones. He was already able to make out Neji's slowly decelerating form through the smoke and debris. By the time the Hyuuga came to a complete stop Naruto's clones were right in his face. They began trading blows, and it wasn't long before they both popped.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, breathing out a giant fireball. This time though, Neji was prepared for such a tactic.

"Hakke Kūhekishō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm)!" Neji shouted, thrusting both his arms forward. A dense wave of chakra flew from his palms, hitting the fireball before it reached him. The attacks met, exploding into a pillar of fire that sizzled out almost as quickly as it came.

"I admit you are more powerful than expected. But you cannot breach my defense. I see every attack before it hits." Neji lowered his arms, sliding into an offensive stance. "No matter how much you fight it, you cannot change your fate."

Naruto watched as Neji's legs filled with chakra, so much that it would have been visible even without his Sharingan. Neji shot forward, speed temporarily boosted past superhuman, he was upon Naruto in a second.

_He's right on top of me!_ Naruto screamed in his head. Time slowed down to a standstill. He couldn't see past the Hyuuga! Now would be a good time to explain how Naruto's eye's worked. His advanced Sharingan, the 'Yokai Sharingan' as Jiraiya had dubbed it on their three week long training trip, was nothing like the traditional Mangekyo. Instead of a powerful illusion, or black flames, it utilized a Jikukan jutsu. Jikukan techniques allowed the user to bend time and space, typically for summoning or, more rarely, teleportation. When activated, his eyes allowed him to teleport anywhere within his field of vision.

That was why his inability to see past Neji was such an issue. He couldn't teleport. Time began to speed up again, and on instinct alone he jerked his head up, looking towards the sky.

_Here goes nothing._ Just as Neji was about to lay another round of juuken strikes into him, Naruto vanished. The stands fell into a stunned silence. That was the second time the blond had simply, _disappeared._ Even Sarutobi was impressed. To use a Jikukan technique with no handseals was no easy feat.

Neji quickly realized what had happened, and looked up. The blond was hundreds of feet in the air, far above the arena floor, and he was falling fast.

"Shit shit shit shit-!" Naruto cried out. He absolutely hated heights. _Why did I have to teleport myself so high into the air? Damn I need to work on my aim!_ Gulping back his fear, he strained his eyes to focus on a spot near the top of the wall surrounding the arena. Charging his eyes with chakra, he teleported again. Still falling, he latched onto the wall with chakra, slowing his decent into a crawl before finally stopping.

Naruto took a moment to catch his breath. _I can't keep running around like this._ He was running out of tricks, and even his vast well of chakra was not bottomless. Standing on the wall with chakra, he looked down at Neji. The Hyuuga was obviously tired. That kaiten technique was very chakra intensive.

_It's time to end this._ Naruto bit his thumb, breaking the skin. Warm blood trickled in-between his fingers, a requirement for his next technique. He rushed through the handseals, before calling out its name.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" A giant cloud of smoke filled the arena, and everyone fell silent.

"Ehh? Naruto? Why'd you summon me here?"

The summon was massive. A toad with aquamarine skin and yellow eyes, it stood as high as several houses stacked one on top of another. To equally huge katanas rested in sheaths on its back, and an orange sash was wrapped around its stomach. Naruto stood atop of the beasts head, right above its eyes.

"Sorry Gamahiro, but the Hyuuga is just too fast for me to handle on my own. If he gets in close one more time, I'm done." Naruto admitted grudgingly.

"Want I should squash him?" The toad asked; one of his webbed hand's moving towards his katana.

"I was thinking more along the lines of oil."

Understanding what his summoner meant, Gamahiro retracted his hand from the blade and grunted in acceptance.

"Holy shit."Neji breathed out, too quiet for anybody to hear. He had never seen a summon-creature of such size, and he knew he wouldn't stand a chance against it. His only hope was to reach Naruto and seal off the blonde's chakra to cancel the technique.

Neji never got a chance to try. A giant bullet made of brownish-black liquid spewed from the mouth of the great toad.

"Kaiten!" Neji yelled, once again relying upon the heavenly spin technique. The liquid bullet hit his chakra shield, before erupting like a water balloon, splashing the oil all over the battlefield. Neji slowed down, realizing too late what had happened.

"Give up. You are surrounded by oil. All it would take is one Katon jutsu from me and you'd be barbeque for Gamahiro here." Naruto grinned as he felt the toad shift its massive weight under him.

"I don't eat humans, especially scrawny ones…" Gamahiro grumbled, trying unsuccessfully to glare at the blond who was still standing on his forehead.

Chakra drained from Neji's eyes as he deactivated his Byakugan. Any further fighting would be suicide on his part. With his current chakra reserves the way they were, he'd be unable to perform another Kaiten.

"Proctor… I forfeit."

The crowd exploded into cheers.

* * *

**Authors Notes**: Read and review! Flames welcome, just not too harsh okay? And if you want to be my beta-reader, send me a message.


	3. Rampage

**Author's Notes**: Hey everybody, finally finished chapter 3. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

He'd won! He beat Neji! And damn did it feel good. The way the crowd cheered his name, the satisfaction of knowing he was strong, that he wasn't the dead last any longer. This is the kind of respect he wanted. The kind he earned, not something that was handed out because of the blood in his veins.

If only Sasuke and Kakashi could see it.

Tardy bastards.

Naruto snorted a laugh, only to grunt in a pain a moment later. Neji had done a number on his coils, and they hurt like hell.

"Will Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari report to the arena floor."

Naruto ignored the proctor, not particularly interested in the battle that was about to commence. Plus he was tired. Really tired. Summoning Gamahiro had been far more draining than anticipated.

As if on que, Naruto felt more of the Kyuubi's chakra seep into his coils. His exhaustion fell away, and the pain from Neji's Jyuuken attacks faded into a barely noticeable ache.

Naruto frowned at the thought of his 'little friend'. Ever since the canyon incident, he had been able to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra more easily. His wounds also healed faster, and his threshold for pain had increased. It was like how he felt during his battle with Haku, only all the time.

_My senses are heightened too._ Naruto noted. His hearing had improved to levels he was sure were beyond normal ninja. The same went for his nose, he was picking up scents he'd never been able to smell before.

Although, to be honest, that wasn't the most pleasant of abilities. The world stank.

Naruto felt a momentary pang of guilt over what he'd done to Kiba in the prelims.

Poor bastard.

Naruto thought back to what he'd told Kyuubi.

_"I've felt enough resentment for one lifetime. Enough hate. I'd like it if someday we could learn to work together, maybe even become friends. But for that to happen I have to live. I need you to loan me you're power."_

Maybe the fox was more open to the idea of being friendly than expected?

_Is Kyuubi... trying to help me? _The thought surprised him. Not because Naruto didn't mean what he'd said, but because he never expected the Kyuubi to go for it. Afterall, this was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, most terrifying of the tailed beasts, a construct of rage and hate.

Or so the legends told.

And Naruto was his _jailer_. Aka, the one thing that stood between it and freedom. Wouldn't there be some resentment there? Some inherent hate?

A nagging voice in the back of Naruto's mind whispered tales of traps and tricks, making him doubt his potential ally. The Kyuubi was evil, this is what he was raised to believe. Since his waking breath, all he'd ever heard of the fox was how destructive and horrifying it was. Could Naruto really trust such a monster?

_But... what if they were wrong?_ Where the thought came from, Naruto wasn't sure. But once in his mind, he couldn't force it out, and it opened the doorway to a deluge of other doubts.

_They were wrong about me._ The villagers were utterly convinced he was the fox reincarnated, or at least that had been the predominant belief amongst them.

Catastrophes had a way of changing people, and the massive death toll from 13 years ago was definitely a catastrophe. It was a disaster the likes of which Konoha had never suffered.

A day that would forever live in infamy.

To bad it also happened to be his birthday. Kind of a buzzkill.

The main question on Naruto's mind was, why did it happen? Yes, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha all those years ago. That was historic fact.

But why?

People were quick to assume it was a random act of malice from a mindless beast, but Naruto wasn't so sure. The fox didn't seem mindless. Quite the opposite. It sounded pretty intelligent, if a bit spiteful.

But, put into the fox's position, who wouldn't be at least a little bit spiteful? Caged inside a child, without another soul to talk to, for thirteen years and counting. It would be maddening.

Loneliness could drive people insane. Naruto had felt it first hand.

_I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy._

And there was something else that bugged him. Where was the Kyuubi before the attack? It existed long before Konoha. Why weren't there any documented cases of it attacking other villages prior to its sealing?

And why Konoha? Why not Suna, or Kumo? He refused to believe Kyuubi went on a rampage through the most powerful of the five hidden villages without a reason.

Naruto sunk deeper into his chair, thoughts turning over and over in his head.

_Why don't I just ask Kyuubi?_

Would that actually work?

"Winner by forfeit, Sabaku no Temari!" The proctor's call shook Naruto from his thoughts.

So Shikamaru lost? He wasn't too surprised, the kid was always the laziest back at the academy.

_I should probably be watching these fights. I'm going to have to fight some of these guys._

"Next match, Sabaku no Gaara verses Uchiha Sasuke! Contestants report to the arena!"

That perked Naruto's head up.

Finally! He could see how powerful Sasuke had grown, perhaps even get to fight him.

If Sasuke won that is.

After a few moments, Gaara found his way to the center of the area.

_Where's Sasuke?_

"Uchiha Sasuke, report to the arena!" The proctor shouted.

Naruto frowned. What the fuck was Sasuke doing? He was going to get disqualified at this rate.

That would really piss Naruto off.

"This is the last call. Contestants must either report to the arena or be disqualified."

…aaand nothing.

What.

The.

Fuck.

There was no way Sasuke would miss his fight, right?

The proctor opened his mouth, about to call the match. Just as Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in a flurry of leaves.

_Wow_, Naruto mouthed. He understood Kakashi had to show up late to everything, it was his sensei's nindo or code or whatever, but did he have to be so tacky about it? And to an event like the chinin exam finals? It was an embarrassment to Konoha.

"Kakashi, so glad you could make it." If the sarcasm dripping from the proctors voice was anything to go by, he wasn't to impressed with the late arivals. "However, you're going to have to leave so that the match can begin."

Kakashi eye smiled, and mumbled some excuse Naruto couldn't quite hear, before leaving the arena in a poof of smoke.

"Are the contestants ready?"

It was a rhetorical question of course, more of a formality than anything else.

Without waiting for a response, the proctor called out,

"Hajime!"

The match had begun.

Sasuke disappeared in a streak of blue and black.

The first word that popped into Naruto's head?

Fast.

As in, holy shit that was fast.

In the span of a month, Sasuke had somehow gained speed that reminded Naruto of a certain bushy-browed genin.

Lee right?

Naruto got up from his seat, moving to the railing to get a better view. His Sharingan was already activated, following Sasuke's movements.

And he was impressed. Sasuke was dancing around Gaara's sand, dodging his attacks with ease.

_But dodging won't win the battle._

Lee's fight proved that.

_He needs to hit back._

_Hard._

Sasuke must have had the same thought, because not a second later the Uchiha flipped from defensive to offensive.

Kick, dodge, punch, slide, kick.

The sand was blocking every attack, until…

* * *

A fist rushed past Gaara's face, brushing his hair. For the first time in a long time, Gaara felt fear. Fear of pain. Fear of hurt. This ninja was fast, just like that one from the preliminaries. He didn't want to feel that pain again. He refused to let this ninja touch him.

So he used his most powerful defensive technique.

"Saikō Zettai Bōgyo… Shukaku no Tate. (Ultimately Hard Absolute Defence: Shield of Shukaku)"

Gaara's gourd exploded into sand.

_Mother will have your blood._

* * *

Sand shifted around Gaara's form, encompassing him completely. When it stopped moving, the genin was nowhere to be seen. A golem, made entirely of sand, stood in his place.

_What the fuck is that?_

At about seven feet tall, it looked like a fat, demonic...raccoon? Emphasis on demonic. Strange cryptic symbols ran across its form, markings that were vaguely reminiscent of Naruto's seal. Its jagged maw of a mouth was open in a perpetual, silent, scream. The black, empty pits it had for eyes only served to enhance the technique's evil appearance.

It stood motionless, arms outstretched and foreboding.

"…_shuuukaakuuuu…"_

Naruto jumped.

That voice…

_Kyuubi?_

Silence greeted Naruto's internal question. Shaking his head, Naruto refocused on the fight. An eye made of sand hovered just above the golem-creature, its unblinking pupil fixed on Sasuke.

* * *

_With such a dense form, it will be slow to move._ Sasuke reasoned, trying to analyze his opponent's defense.

_If I can strike hard and fast, Gaara wont be able to dodge from inside. _ Sasuke smirked. _He's trapped himself._

He pulled back, retreating half way up the stadium wall.

Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Snake, Dog, Tiger, Monkey... Sasuke finished the last handseal, before grabbing onto his wrist.

_I win._

The sound of a thousand birds chirping rang throughout the stadium.

Lightning crackled into life around Sasuke's hand, effectively turning it into a sword of raiton energy.

He charged.

Small arcs shot off of the technique, slashing deep gouges into the stone walls of the stadium as he descended. Sasuke hit the ground in a shower of earth and dust, making a bee-line straight towards Gaara.

"Chidori!" Sasuke cried, throwing his arm forward in an attempt to skewer the racoon's large pot belly.

The raiton jutsu hit Gaara's defense, melting and cutting through the sand.

Only to stop about wrist deep.

_It's not enough_. Sasuke realized. _The sand is too dense._

He instantly jumped back, barely in time to dodge the large spikes that shot out of the golem's chest.

* * *

_Chidori!? _Naruto seethed angrily.

Kakashi taught Sasuke the chidori?! An A-rank assassination jutsu?! What the fuck! Kakashi had never taught him a single battle worthy jutsu!

Ever!

_Favoritist asshole._

The fact that it was unable to peirce Gaara's defense actually gave Naruto a small level of satisfaction. He snorted in amusement. Served them right.

A flicker in Naruto's peripheral vision drew his attention.

_Is that... a feather?_

Entirely white, it almost glowed in the bright sunlight. It was joined by many others, hundreds of feathers, carried abreast by the wind. They floated across the expanse of the stadium, loftily drifting towards the earth.

_What the?_

Naruto's eyelids began to droop as an overwhelming sense of exhaustion overtook him.

_Why do I feel so tired?_

Naruto tried and failed to keep his eyes open. He felt like he hadn't slept in weeks.

_What's going on?_

His legs turned to jello and he toppled over.

_Gen...jutsu...!_

Blackness overtook him.

* * *

He was in the seal again.

There was no mistaking those cracked, yellow walls.

Or that smell.

Wet fox had a very unique aroma.

_Why am I here_?

The last thing Naruto remembered he was watching Sasuke and Gaara's fight when…

When... what?

Shit he couldn't remember what happened.

"A genjutsu."

Naruto looked up, noticing for the first time he was standing in front of the Kyuubi's cage.

"What?" Naruto asked, sending the Kyuubi a curious look.

"The Ichibi jinchuuriki stood before you, and you fell to a genjutsu!?" The Kyuubi growled, his eyes blazing.

"A fucking genjutsu!" The fox roared again, as if the idea was ludicrous.

"Uhhh, sorry?" Naruto apologized sheepishly. "Wait, the Ichibi? You mean…oh shit...Gaara?"

The Kyuubi ignored his question, apparently to furious to answer. One of the beast's massive ears cocked to the side and twitched.

"I can hear his screams..." Kyuubi uttered, his voice low and rumbling.

"...Shukaku has awoken."

"What-?" Naruto started, startled by Kyuubi's proclamation.

Red chakra exploded from behind the bars of the seal, cutting Naruto off. He resisted the urge to cry out as it pushed into his coils. There was so much! He felt like a water balloon shoved on the end of a fire-hose.

"How dare the Ichibi rear its head within MY territory!" Kyuubi's eyes glinted fiercely.

"Konoha... is mine..."

Naruto's world dissolved in a wave of crimson.

* * *

Kakashi charged chakra into the flash bomb held tightly against his palm.

_Time before detonation, .7 seconds. _

The sound-nin closed in, and Kakashi threw his arm up, palm open and facing his opponent. Kakashi's eyes were already closed, and he'd manipulated the chakra in his ears to muffle his hearing and protect them from damage.

_Tactics 101, Distract enemy._

The bomb went off with a flash of light and a deafening boom. Even with his precautions Kakashi felt his body react negatively to both stimuli.

_Ignore throbbing in ears. Lean back._

Kakashi tilted his body back at the waist, dodging the sound-nins blind jab.

_Counter with punch to the throat, dislocating larynx. _

Kakashi lurched forward, driving his first directly into his target's adams-apple.

He felt elastic cords and joints connecting the larynx to the neck give with a wet splurtch.

_Blind, deaf, and unable to breathe, opponent will attempt jutsu_.

The sound-nin threw his arm up, desperately charging chakra into his left hand.

_Grab wrist, disable._

Kakashi wrapped his fingers around man's wrist, and in the same motion, twisted it. The hand make a fascinating snapping sound as multiple bones in it cracked.

_Break wrist entirely; decapitate._

Kakashi tightened his grip and bent the hand at an unnatural angle. Ignoring the sound-nin's pained scream, Kakashi grabbed at the air with his other hand. Chakra infused wind swirled around his fingers. In one swift motion, he punched his hand forward, and removed his opponents head from his shoulders.

The body fell the too ground with a dull thud.

Just as a powerful surge of demonic energy erupted on the other side of the battlefield.

That had to be...

"Naruto!"

* * *

Naruto's eyes shot open, red and slitted

Just in time to see the silver flash of a sword coming down upon him.

With no time to dodge, his body reacted on instinct.

A clawed hand shot forward, his hand, swathed in chakra. It wrapped around the blade and twisted, yanking it out of the shinobi's grip. In the same motion, Naruto rolled to his feet and spun, ramming the sword into the ninja's temple.

There was no scream of pain, anger, or even surprise. Only a widening of the eyes, and then nothing.

Only death.

Naruto watched dispassionately as the suna ninja's body fell to the floor in a heap of lifeless flesh.

_"...crushh shuukakkuuu..." _

The words flitted through his mind, a whisper in the back of his skull.

Kyuubi was pissed.

He felt its rage, coursing through his mind as if it was his own.

Crimson chakra erupted from his body in a tidal wave, causing the ground where he stood to crack and groan. It bled off his form in thick, ropey, simulacrums of raw power, bubbling around him like a cloak.

And it burned.

Fuck did it burn!

Naruto let lose a guttural roar that echoed across the expanse of the arena. With the roar came killing intent. It fell upon everyone in the stadium, forcing many weaker ninja to their knees. This wasn't the killing intent of a ninja; genin, jonin, or otherwise. This was something else, something primal, raw, and terrifying.

It was the power of a bijuu.

The world came to a stand still, many ninja pausing their battles to gauge the threat of this new arrival.

Naruto's iris swirled red and black, twisting into his unique sharingan. His gaze fell upon the bloodied floor that was once the chunin exams, absorbing the scene with a clarity one could only gain from his doujutsu. Hundreds of already dead or wounded sound, sand and leaf shinobi lay across its ruined surface.

_What is this!?_

"Naruto!"

Kakashi appeared like an apparition, his form blurring into existence next to the blond.

"How did this happen! Why are we being attacked!?" Naruto growled, his voice angry and animalistic.

"Sound and Suna are invading. It's war."

_It's war._

The proclamation rang through his ears, searing into his brain.

War?

The word sounded so foreign to Naruto. He'd never seen true battle, real bloodshed, not on such a scale.

Rage built up within him. These ninja would attack his village? His home?

They would kill his precious people?

No.

The chakra cloak that encompassed Naruto gurgled sickly. Three tails formed behind him, coiling and uncoiling like snakes about to strike.

"Naruto, stop! You can't let the Kyuubi take contro-"

Naruto's eyes flickered towards his sensei, and Kakashi stopped.

"What - you're eyes? The sharingan?" Kakashi's words were jumbled and confused. The shock of seeing _those_ eyes in_ this_ student made his head spin.

Naruto didn't respond. He simply turned his gaze back to the battlefield, and the ninja fighting like ants so far below.

"I'll kill them."

Charging chakra into his eyes, he prepared his teleportation jutsu.

"I'll kill them all."

A twinge in his eyes, and he was gone. Like a sword cleaving through the expanse of the battle field, Naruto dived into the fray.

* * *

Stab.

Punch.

Tear.

Rip.

Shred.

Crush.

Kill.

Kill.

Kill. Kill. kiilll. KILL.

It was Naruto's mantra, repeated over and over in his head. He teleported from one location to the next, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. The killing came easily. With every swing of his arm or swipe of his tails, an enemy fell. Ninja after ninja, sound and sand alike. Powered by the primordial chakra of the Kyuubi, he had no trouble tearing through the skin and bone of these humans.

The repulsive flesh-sacs who dared attack his home.

_My home_.

A blood-red stain on the canvas of the battlefield, Naruto was gore incarnate.

A minature Kyuubi.

He was unsure how long he fought, or how many he killed, only that the tide of enemies was unending.

Their blood soaked his skin and clothing, caked in his hair.

_They break so easily._

Naruto raised his arm. A giant hand of pure chakra leapt from his form. It grabbed onto a sound shinobi and squeezed. With a sickening squelching sound, the ninja's head popped off and his body was pulped.

A barrage of shuriken smashed into Naruto's side, only to bounce harmlessly off his chakra cloak. Without even looking at the attacker, Naruto swung his arm. The chakra around it extended like a hammer, squashing the suna ninja into the ground. A pool of blood and pulverized meat was all that remained.

Without a moments hesitation, he moved onto his next target. His eyes scanned the battlefield for more appropriate prey.

_There._

His eyes focused on his target, and he teleported.

* * *

_Today officially sucks_. Anko decided.

Her cursed mark had been burning since the night before. It wasn't the pain that bothered her, but the knowledge that her former sensei was close. It made her paranoid.

It was her paranoia that pushed her to come to the chunin exam finals dressed for a battle. Hidden blades from head to toe, her best reinforced mesh underarmor, countless explosive tags and poison packs. She was decked out and dangerous.

_I didn't expect an all out war._

When those feathers triggered the mass genjutsu, she barely had time to draw a kunai before sound and sand ninja started to flood over the walls. It was like the gates to hell had opened and the demons were pouring out.

The world jumped into high gear, and instinct took over. She had never been so grateful for the skills her former sensei gave her. Even if she hated the traitor, he was about as powerful as they came, and his tricks were useful.

"Hey look! It's that peice of Konoha trash Orochimaru left behind."

Anko froze. It was an entire squad of sound ninja. Judging from their vests, they were all jonin. And she was stuck in no man's land with no backup.

Not a good place to be.

"Anko isn't it?" The sound ninja grinned perversely. His crooked smile made her skin crawl.

Anko didn't respond. Instead, she pulled out a fist full of poison dipped sebon and an explosive note. She reasoned she could kill one or two right off the bat and poison the rest.

If she was going down, she would take them all with her.

"Kill h-"

He never got to finish his sentence. A fist cloaked in red chakra came down upon his head.

The man's grinning face literally exploded into a mist of blood and bone.

Naruto teleported into the center of the squad of startled sound shinobi, his entirely body wrapped in a cloak of pure demonic power. Anko watched, wide-eyed, as he tore through the remaining attackers, sending broken and bleeding bodies flying.

Soon, the squad of sound ninja was nothing more than spare parts and red spray paint. His assault over, Naruto turned to face her. Fear coursed through her as his eyes locked with her own.

There was nothing in those eyes but rage.

Naruto's chest swelled as he drew in breath. He tossed his head back, then snapped it forward again as he spat an explosive mixture of chakra and air at her.

The attack rushed passed her head, followed by a meaty thud.

Anko looked over her shoulder. A suna shinobi that had tried to sneak up on her now lay dead, half his torso and one arm blown off by Naruto's attack.

"Holy shit." She breath out.

_He's a monster._

She turned back, but Naruto was already gone.

_I like his style._ She decided, a smirk fitted to her face.

* * *

Naruto's swatted a random suna shinobi, his chakra claws cutting and burning through the boy's gut. The ninja, a boy even younger than Naruto, fell to the ground clutching his stomach.

As Naruto moved to end the boy's life, he sensed something that gave him pause.

A presence, far to the east, outside the walls of Konoha. Its power was growing, looming on the edge of the battlefield. It was something greater, something far more worthy of his wrath, than the self-righteous monkeys he was slaughtering now.

The one-tailed beast had been released.

"Shukaku!" Naruto roared.

_I'm coming for you._

Casting his eyes to the horizon, Naruto disappeared.

* * *

Sakura peaked out from behind the branches that served as her hiding spot.

_Oh my god, what is that thing?_

It looked like the golem Gaara created during his match with Sasuke, only bigger. Much bigger. Waterfalls of sand poured off its colossal body, burying the forest below until only the tips of the tallest trees were visible.

Its very presences was turning the great forest into a desert.

And it was coming this way.

Sakura glanced worriedly at her unconscious teammate. Sasuke lay on the branch next to her, passed out from chakra exhaustion. He'd tried to defeat that, that... _monster _and failed. She'd barely managed to grab him and escape.

_What am I going to do?_

She couldn't leave Sasuke here, but she was too exhausted to carry him to the village.

Not that it'd be any safer there.

What with the invasion and all.

Plus the giant sand demon seemed to be headed in that direction.

Sakura took a shaky breath, fighting to push back the fear that paralyzed her.

"FREE!" The beast boomed jovially, before breaking into a bout of maniacal laughter. That laugh... it was an evil, insane laugh that sent a shivers down Sakura's spine.

"Come and fight me puny humans! I'll crush your flesh into paste!"

As if on que, a figured appeared in front of the demon.

One that glowed red with chakra.

All Sakura could distinguish of its form were the three red tails that swayed behind it. A massive killing intent accompanied the figure. It fell over her, a suffocating blanket of fear that made her heart skip a beat.

"Huh?" The beast grunted, stopping to observe the newcomer.

_Who is that?_

Sakura squinted, trying to see through the haze of red chakra that hung around the person. She could just make out a tuft of blond through the red.

Red chakra? Blond hair? Memories of the forest of death, and the battle with that snakelike grass shinobi, flashed through her mind.

_Naruto?_

"Hahahaha! You'd challenge me in that form, aniki?" The demon bellowed. "You're so tiny!" It giggled insanely.

_Aniki? _Sakura thought. _As in brother?_

The killing intent she felt increased, and Sakura could have sworn the sand demon pulled back, even if ever so slightly.

_Is it afraid? _Sakura wondered.

What would give something so powerful a reason to fear?

* * *

Naruto stared into Ichibi's unblinking eyes, his rage mounting.

This crazed, pathetic creature, weakest of all the bijuu, dared march against his territory? His chakra tails twitched angrily.

_Foolish little brother._

"Hahahaha! You'd challenge me in that form, aniki?" It giggled. "You're so tiny!"

Naruto drew upon as much of the Kyuubi's hate as he could, pushing it into his killing intent. He grinned in amusement when the beast pulled back.

Even if it was only a little.

"We are not pleased, little brother." Naruto's voice boomed across the forest, amplified to a level that was beyond the normal limitations of the human voicebox. "This is _our_ territory. You should run, with your solitary tail tucked between your legs.

"_While we still let you._"

The threat hung in the air, and for a moment Shukaku seemed to hesitate. Then the demon broke out into another fit of deranged laughter.

"I WILL BLOW YOU UP!" It yelled suddenly, its demeanor twisting from amusement to rage in a heartbeat.

Shukaku's stomach bulged as it drew in air.

_If we dodge this attack, it could hit Konoha._

Naruto rushed through handseals, his fingers a blur.

"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!"

Even though Doryūheki was only a B-rank earth technique, the size and strength of the wall it created was dependent on how much chakra was used.

Naruto used a _lot_.

The ground underneath Naruto shook and split. A huge slab of stone erupted from its bowels. Easily thirty feet wide, and three times as tall, it stood between the beast and Konoha.

Shukaku smashed both fists into its stomach. A highly compressed ball of air howled from its mouth.

The bullet impacted his wall, exploding into a torrent of cutting wind. Air battled against earth, struggling to break though. Naruto felt the rock wall moan and crack as great fractures spider-webbed across its surface.

And then, as quickly as it began, it was over. His wall still stood.

But the aftermath of that single attack was unbelievable. The air bullet had gouged a deep pit into the earth. Massive limbs that used to be roots protruded from the dirt like spikes, the trees that once grew from them nothing more than splinters.

_If that had hit Konoha..._ Naruto steeled his resolved. He had to stop this thing before it got any closer to the village.

Naruto refocused his eyes on Shukaku, taking a moment to analyze the bijuu. His sharingan let him see the flow of chakra throughout its body. It looked like most of the demon's chakra was still behind the seal. He guessed it was only at a fifth of its full power. But, at the rate chakra was hemorrhaging out of Gaara, it wouldn't be that way much longer.

He had to attack fast, while it was still weak.

Naruto reasoned that with so much of its power still sealed away, it would difficult for Shukaku to hold that giant sand body together. If he could hit the demon hard enough, the whole thing might fall apart.

"Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin (Suicide Bombing Clone Great Explosion)."

Two of his three tails disappeared, their chakra funneled into the jutsu.

Four clones popped into existence.

During his training with Jiraiya, Naruto had become fascinated with the Daibakuha Bunshin technique. The idea of an exploding Kage Bunshin was, to put it simply, _badass. _At least in his mind. So he'd toyed with it, using the Taju Kage Bunshin training method to master its use. And he didn't stop there. Inquisitive by nature, Naruto tried to make the explosions more powerful, more destructive...

And he succeeded, almost blowing himself up in the process.

The result of his training was the Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin. The jutsu was basically a Daibakuha Bunshin amplified a thousand times over. It took a hell of a lot of chakra, even by Naruto's standard, but it was devastatingly powerful.

Which is why Jiraiya labeled it an S-class kinjutsu, to be used only as a last resort.

A _bijuu_ marching against Konoha during an all out war probably qualified.

"You've even smaller now aniki! You're an ichibi like me! HAhahahaHAhaha!" Shukaku laughed gleefully, stomping around like a child.

_I need to space the explosions perfectly to maximize damage to the demon's body._

Naruto raised his hand, signalling his clones.

"Jikoku... Doutai (Instant body Movement)." His clones disappeared, landing on various spots of Shukaku's body.

"Huh?" The raccoon bellowed dumbly.

"Kai!" Naruto shouted, forming a one-handed ram seal.

The clones bulged for a moment, as their constructs deteriorated. Then, in a brilliant flash of light, they exploded.

Holy _motherfucking_ boom.

Naruto felt the shockwave first. It nearly knocked him off his feet, even from this distance. The sound of the explosion followed, rocking through the air like thunder.

A giant cloud of dirt, sand, and rock mushroomed into existence.

_Did it work?_

Naruto squinted, trying to see through the cloud of debris that still hung in the air. After a few minutes, the dust settled enough for Naruto to make out a shape.

A large, semi-round blob of sand was slowly falling towards the earth. Bits of molten and half-cooled glass were flecked across it, shimmering in the light of the sun.

The construct landed and the sand fell away to reveal a now conscious Gaara.

* * *

"The funeral for the Third Hokage who lost his life in this battle, as well as other victims who gave there lives, will begin now." Hundreds of villagers, ANBU, and ninja alike stood solemnly, like dark statues standing in neat columns.

Black, the color of mourning, the color of death.

Naruto stood in the first row, a section normally reserved for family. He was dressed fully in black, formal battle attire, like the rest of the shinobi present. Konohamaru stood beside him, sniffling as he tried to hold back tears.

"You don't have to hold them back." Naruto whispered reassuringly. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. Konohamaru looked up at him, his face contorted with sadness.

"When you lose someone close to you, it's okay to cry."

Konohamaru nodded. The dams broke, and tears ran uncontrollably down the boy's checks.

"I-I just ca-can't believe he's real-ly gone." Konohamaru cried, wiping at his face with his sleeve.

Naruto didn't know what to say to that. To be honest, he couldn't believe it either. Old-man Sarutobi had been like superman. The strongest ninja of the hidden leaf, the professor, god of shinobi.

How could he die?

Naruto shook his head, forcing those thoughts away. Ninja died. It was their way of life. No matter how strong you were, there was always someone stronger, smarter or faster than you.

And if not, then age got you.

Storm clouds gathered overhead, and the sky turned opaque. Drops of water slowly began to fall.

"Rain," Asuma whispered.

"The sky is crying to," Naruto stated quietly. One by one, each of them placed a single white flower on the memorial.

It was Naruto's turn. He walked up to the memorial, a picture of the Third on a black cushion. Memories flashed through his mind. Him being chased by Sarutobi, the Third bringing him to his new apartment, the time he used Oiroke no Jutsu on Sarutobi, them eating ramen together, the conversation in his office just a few days ago…

Naruto laid his flower in the pile of others and walked away.

* * *

In the craziness after the invasion, it was sheer luck that Kakashi stumbled into Naruto. He got filled in on the everything that had happened while he was gone training Sasuke.

That was yesterday, but his head was still reeling from the information. It was hard to process.

Not only was Naruto a Uchiha, he was Obito's nephew. But, the more Kakashi thought about it the more it made sense. Naruto was practically a blond version of his former teammate. He just wished he could have realized it earlier.

Kakashi ran his calloused fingers over the surface of the memorial stone, feeling the names etched into its surface.

_One of these days, it will be my name._

"Did you come here for Obito?"

Kakashi didn't bother to face the voice. He recognized it as Anko. Not that he had to hear her voice to know it was her. He was so accustomed to her by now, he could sense her chakra a mile a way.

"No... I'm reading the names of those who died in battle yesterday."

"Really?" Anko sounded genuinely surprised.

Kakashi nodded.

"I come here whenever I can to check for new names."

Kakashi stood, and pulled his hitai-ate down to cover his sharingan eye.

"I read them with my sharingan, so I can never forget."

For a few seconds everything was silent except for the rain.

"Kakashi... you should focus more on the living than the dead."

"I know." Kakashi assured her. But his words sounded hollow, empty. As if he didn't really believe them.

"Do you? To carry around the names of all your dead comrades, that's a burden no one should have to carry."

Kakashi grudgingly found himself agreeing with her. He started doing this so long ago, after Obito and Rin died. Now he just felt tired. Tired and old.

The names of all the dead weighed him down, he felt like he was drowning in them.

"Maybe one of these days I'll stop. I just... I don't know how."

He felt a hand wrap around his own, and allowed it to comfort him.

"You'll figure it out." Anko said slyly.

Her hand squeezed his own. A smile tugged at his lips, and he squeezed hers back.

It was nice, being with her. His problems already felt smaller, farther away.

He felt like things would be okay.

It was a feeling he hadn't felt since Minato died.

He liked it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** There. Chapter three, rewritten. That was a project. I would have liked to have added more in certain places, and elaborated on certain parts, but redoing this chapter become such a huge project I just wanted it out of the way. Almost gave up haha.

GLAD IT'S DONE. :D

Anyways, review guys! I'd love some feedback on how u like the chapter rewrite. Again, I have no beta reader, so let e know if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes. Or if something just doesn't make sense haha.

Cheers!


	4. 50 isn't old, it's middle aged!

Author's Notes: About the pairings, in the first chapter I said **no yaoi**. Also, I am a fan of Naruto/Tsunade, but I am afraid that that pairing wouldn't really work in this story because of how I have it planned out. Any pairings except those are okay. I will go with which one has the most votes, and I will only count the votes in the reviews for this chapter. That way I can make sure I don't count anyone twice and I give everyone another chance to vote incase they voted for Tsunade or yaoi. One last thing, all of the other chapters have finally been edited.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I tried to buy it, but he wouldn't sell it to me.

—

Naruto had finally moved into the Uchiha compound. A single suitcase was grasped tightly in his hand. He wore the same style of clothing that he had worn to the Third's funeral.

Sasuke had insisted that he move into one of the many empty houses. The dark teen had been very insistent, saying that Naruto was family. He doubted that Sasuke meant it, more than likely the power hungry avenger wanted to spy on him, to try and decipher how he had advanced his eyes.

He sighed and walked into his new home, the largest house other than Sasuke's. The first room he entered was a mud room, but he didn't bother to take his shoes off, it was his house after all.

The long hallway was connected to a few different rooms, and right in the middle of it was a set of stairs. Naruto walked up these to the next floor — Sasuke had given him directions to his room.

Naruto walked over to a certain door and opened it, revealing an extravagant bed amongst an assortment of other furnishings. A rolled up piece of parchment laying in the middle of his bed — a note from Sasuke he guessed.

Wrong guess. The scroll had obviously been written recently. Not a crease or mark on it. He broke the seal and unrolled it, it had been written in a very neat hand, not a speck of ink out of place. It read:

Dear Naruto,

When you have nowhere else to turn, you may join us. Simply place a thumbprint of your blood on the seal at the bottom of this page. We will find you.

Sincerely, Akatsuki

'_Who the hell were the Akatsuki?_' Naruto asked himself, as he rolled the paper and resealed it.

—

An old man leaned against a rail at the top of the Hokage tower, holding a telescope up to his eye. He giggled. A middle-aged man walked up behind him, "Jiraiya, do you still do such foolish things?"

Jiraiya turned and looked at him. "I'm gathering data after all," he stated simply. "Old man Homura and Koharu, huh? What do you want with me?"

"What do we want? You should know without us even telling you." Homura had a pair of glasses balanced precariously on the tip of his nose — he pushed them up to the bridge of his nose.

"You don't have to look so serious," Jiraiya said. He smirked, "I trust that the talks with the Sand went well, right?"

Homura nodded, "The Sand has publicly announced that Orochimaru set them up. They have surrendered to Konoha, so that topic is no longer relevant. Konoha had no choice but to except their surrender in order for us to revive our power. But the Hidden village of Konoha's power has decreased in great proportions. In this situation, we must prioritize preparations for the worst possible outcome."

"We do not know when some hidden village may do something radical. So until the village's power is restored, we have decided to gather the top people from each squad, and assemble an emergency executive committee to deal with this problem.

"But until then, the council has decided that we need a strong person as our face in the midst of this catastrophe. There are many problems right now. It's not just Orochimaru," Homura stated blandly."

Jiraiya frowned, "You do not need to waste time reporting such things to me. I am going to resume my research now."

Homura spoke up, "Let me tell you one basic thing that we have all agreed on: we need a fifth Hokage as soon as possible. Just yesterday there was a meeting, and Jiraiya, you were chosen."

Jiraiya scowled, his back to them, "I am not suited for such a position."

Now it was Homura that scowled, "You were still chosen, and if you are not suited for the job, who is?"

Jiraiya turned back around, "There is one other Sannin. Tsunade"

Homura glanced at the hag beside him, "But we don't have any clue as to where she may be."

Jiraiya smiled, "I will find her. Is that okay with you?"

The advisors looked at each other, then back at Jiraiya, "Fine. We will assemble three ANBU members to accompany you."

Jiraiya looked out over Konoha, "There is no need. I don't need any companions, but I will take this one guy with me. I have found a potential successor."

—

Naruto hadn't spent much time wondering about the perplexing scroll he had found earlier. Instead, he ran off to practice his favorite hobby: eating ramen. Luckily for him, he had a food pass remaining. Originally there were two, but he had given one to Konohamaru.

He ran to the ramen shop, sliding to a halt at the counter. Reaching one hand into his pocket, he felt for his pass. His hand found a few bills and the scroll he had earlier, but no pass. Trying pocket after pocket he found no pass.

"What? I swear I had _two_ passes." Frustrated, Naruto started to empty his numerous pockets onto the counter.

—

A tall man wearing a black coat with red clouds walked into the food stand. He walked over to a table where another man was wearing the same kind of outfit. Both of them were wearing large straw hats and similar rings, though upon different fingers.

They were S-class missing nin and more importantly, they were Akatsuki members. They were known as Kisame and Itachi.

Kisame spoke, "Did he read it?" Itachi nodded, lifting a cup of green tea to his mouth. Kisame spoke to his silent partner again, "What was his reaction?" Itachi's face may have be shrouded in darkness, but his omnipresent, red eyes almost glowed in the darkness.

"He did not show much thought towards the letter." Kisame frowned.

"Maybe we should talk to him in person," Kisame suggested, a wicked smile on his lips.

Itachi shook his head, "He will come to us eventually. Maybe not alone." Kisame question him, but his companion would speak no more.

The two were quiet for a while, sipping tea and basking in the smell of sweets baking in the little stand. A strong chakra signature appeared at the door. It was well hidden, but the two were not little Jounin, they were Akatsuki.

The missing nin glanced at each other. They knew this ninja had located them, and knew who they were. Just like they knew who he was. It was the 'legendary' copycat Kakashi. The duo disappeared without a trace.

Moments later, Asuma and a blushing Kurenai showed up. Kakashi gave them a single glance and motioned for them to follow him.

—

The whisker-marked teen frantically shook his pants in a desperate attempt to find the missing food stamp. His shirt, shoes, socks, kunai, various sized scrolls, shuriken, exploding notes, and a strange assortment of other objects were piled onto the counter of the ramen shop.

The half naked Naruto anxiously continued to wave his pants through the air, oblivious to the blushing girls that had gathered at the entrance to watch. He stopped and frowned. Raising his hands behind his head he untied his forehead protector.

A small rectangular piece of paper floated down in front of him. It was a food stamp. A triumphant grin flashed across his face. Quickly redressing, he pocketed everything and ordered his lunch.

After an agonizing three minutes a steaming bowl of mouth-watering ramen was placed in front of him. Naruto silently thanked the Kami before he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and raised a large mouthful of noodles to his lips.

—

Sasuke's frowning figure loomed over his unconscious sensei, "What happened?"

A smile played across Asuma's lips, "Someone told him that Jiraiya stopped writing his Icha Icha novels." Kurenai glared at him. His smile broadened. Kurenai elbowed him, muttering about perverts under her breath.

An ANBU barged in, "Is it true that Itachi and Kisame attacked Kakashi inside of Konoha's walls, and that they are after Naruto?" All the Jounin present sweat-dropped and attempted to deny the claim. Sasuke paled and his eyes dilated. He darted past the bewildered ANBU and out of the room as fast as his feet could carry him.

—

The young replica of the late Fourth Hokage looked up at his old, perverted sensei, "What are you going to teach me ero-sensei? You promised that you would teach me an awesome technique." Naruto was almost giddy, but he tried to control himself. An Uchiha was supposed to always be calm and collected.

The two were walking down an old dirt road outside of Konoha. Jiraiya had told Naruto that they were looking for a fifty-year-old lady.

Naruto watched as a devious smile spread across his sensei's lips. "Well Naruto, this is a pretty powerful technique, but it could take you a long time to master because this technique is broken down into three steps."

Naruto scowled, "But can't my Sharingan just copy the technique?"

Jiraiya shook his head, "No, this can't be copied because it takes time and training to master, and it does not use hand seals. But you might want to keep your eyes activated any way, they might help a little. Watch." The old frog hermit then held out his hand, chakra started to gather in his palm. It slowly started to rotate, becoming faster and faster until it became a swirling ball of glowing blue chakra.

Jiraiya then pushed the ball of chakra into a tree… It cut all the way through, but never wavered in its form. Jiraiya then slammed it into another tree yelling, "Rasengan!" The ball exploded outward — destroying the tree completely, and ripped up a lot of dirt and stone.

Jiraiya spoke again, "That jutsu can drill through anything, and when released, can cause massive damage to the enemy and surrounding area." Naruto nodded, surprisingly quiet. Jiraiya continued his talk, "The first step is to pop this water balloon…"

—

A knock came on the door. Naruto blew the hair out of his face, he was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the apartment that he and Jiraiya were staying at. He was grumbling something about, "Sensei and his stinking research…"

After Naruto had finally popped the water balloon he had to make a rubber ball explode. He had then expected to start the next step needed to master the technique, but his sensei said he would start in the morning, and to work on his chakra control for now.

The blonde jumped down from the ceiling and paced over to the door with a determined look on his face. He was going to get the next step out of his sensei. The doorknob turned and opened, there stood Sasuke.

Wait, he was older than Sasuke, and some fish guy with a bandaged sword stood next to him. Naruto started, "Hello?" The older Sasuke decided to answer the unasked question, '_Who the hell were they?_'

"I am Itachi and this is Kisame, we are Akatsuki." Itachi had spoke as little as possible, Naruto guessed he didn't speak much. One of Naruto's eyebrows raised, and he motioned for them to enter.

Itachi and Kisame walked into the room, and Naruto shut the door. He turned around facing his visitors. The three stood there in silence.

Finally Naruto spoke up, "Soooo, what exactly is the Akatsuki? Oh, and are you aware that you bear a very close resemblance to Uchiha Sasuke? Are you related to him?"

Itachi answered, "The Akatsuki is an organization of some of the most powerful people in the ninja world. Yes, I am aware I look a lot like Sasuke, or rather he looks a lot like me. He is my younger brother."

"Well I have to admit I am pretty powerful," Naruto smiled, "but I doubt that I am among the most powerful people in the world." Itachi smiled slightly, Kisame's eyes widened, but then it was gone.

"Naruto, you are right. You pale next to any Kage level ninja or Akatsuki member, but you have been taught by one of the legendary Sannin and the copycat Kakashi, you have an advanced form of the Sharingan eyes, you can summon the frog boss, you can create thousands of shadow clones — which is and S-class jutsu, and you invented Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin. Needless to say, you have great potential."

Silence ensued after Itachi's little speech. Kisame was in minor shock, he could count the number of times his partner had said so much at once on one hand. Again it was Naruto who broke the silence, "So you want me to join because I have the potential to become powerful?"

Kisame nodded and Itachi said, "Yes, but also because of what resides in your navel. The nine tailed fox."

Naruto was quiet before saying, "Huh? How do you know about that?"

"The whole reason that the Akatsuki exists is because of the tailed beasts. It is our goal to collect them all," Kisame and Itachi said in unison. "Why?"

"It is not the time or place for us to tell you."

"Then why did you come here?"

"To make our offer clear to you. You see, the Akatsuki is made up mostly of missing nin. The reason for this is that being part of this organization offers protection to us, and a place to live. I myself have committed crimes against Konoha for reasons I will keep to myself. Not all of the members are criminals, remember that."

The two disappeared in a puff of smoke just before a crazed Sasuke barged in, "Where is he?" His voice was almost a snarl, "Naruto, where is Itachi?"

Naruto stood there for a moment contemplating whether he should tell Sasuke. A second later he said, "Who?"

—

Naruto and Jiraiya walked side by side as he looked back on yesterday's events. After Naruto had said that, Sasuke had run off in search of his brother. Jiraiya showed up half an hour later and they had continued their search for the 'old lady'.

"Naruto."

He looked at his sensei, "Yah?"

"Time for you to start the third step. What you need to do is combine the first and second step inside this balloon, creating a perfect sphere. If the ball of chakra becomes inconsistent, the balloon pops and you start over again. Understand?" Naruto nodded. Jiraiya smiled, "Then begin." The hermit handed over a balloon.

Minutes later the balloon popped and he got a new one. That one would pop and he would get a new one. That was the pattern for hours as they walked down the path.

By suppertime they had reached a new village, and Naruto was finally able to make a perfect ball of spinning chakra inside of the ball. "Now you have created a weak version of the Rasengan. Now you have to master it. You must create a shell of chakra in the place of the balloon, and then use step three inside of it."

The two walked into a bar. Jiraiya looked up, his eyes bulged, his index finger pointing towards a table where two young women were sitting, and he yelled, "Tsunade!"

The larger of the two women smiled, "Jiraiya, long time no see!"

Naruto looked from his shocked sensei to the big-breasted woman. "This is who we've been looking for?" Jiraiya looked back at him and nodded. Naruto frowned, "She doesn't look like some old hag."

Tsunade frowned, "Old hag? What have you been telling the boy?"

Naruto looked at her, "He said that you were fifty."

Tsunade scowled, "Fifty isn't old, it's middle-aged." Naruto opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say. '_So she **is** fifty,_' he thought.

They walked over to the young, some more so than others, women. '_Wait… was that a pig? It was! It was a pink pig in a bar!_' These were strange people. Naruto and Jiraiya sat down next to each other. He was facing the old hag, no matter what she said, fifty was old.

"Here, play some cards," Tsunade said, dealing him a hand. Jiraiya sighed, propping his elbows on the edge of the table and looked at his cards. They continued in silence for a while, until finally Jiraiya spoke.

The pervert closed his eyes and said, "Sarutobi is dead." Jiraiya paused looking over at Tsunade. She had frozen, her glass to her lips. Sighing again he continued, "Orochimaru killed him. The counsel wants you to become Hokage."

Naruto nearly fell out of his seat. The counsel wanted this woman to become the Hokage? He watched as Tsunade set her glass down. She Looked at her cards and remained silent.

Jiraiya questioned, "Well Tsunade, do you accept their proposal?"

Tsunade set her cards down. Closing her eyes she scowled, "No, not possible. Only an idiot would become Hokage."

Naruto's blood ran cold. He must have heard wrong, right? Kami, that hag had nerve. Tsunade spoke again, raising a whole bottle of sake to her lips, "The Third and Fourth were idiots that threw their lives away."

Naruto was barely able to contain himself. Tsunade laid her cards on the table and stated bluntly, "The title Hokage is a piece of crap."

Naruto activated his eyes, jumped onto the table, and raised one hand, pumping his chakra into it. A Chidori flared to life. He brought the blade of lightning down upon her. There was an explosion, stone flew everywhere, a cloud of dust billowed through the air.

Tsunade sat in her seat, a gapping hole behind her head, a single finger raised. He had missed. She had knocked the Chidori away with a single finger. They made eye contact. hers widened a little. "Jiraiya, is that the Sharingan?" The frog hermit nodded, a smile on his face.

Naruto still standing on the table, stared down at Tsunade, "Listen you baka, anyone that insults the Third or Fourth obviously needs a hole drilled into their head so their brain can get more oxygen. I would be happy to give you the service of providing one such hole."

Tsunade stood. Even with Naruto on the table, they were nearly eye to eye. "You have got a lot of guts to say that to me. Step outside, kid." The unnamed associate sighed, and Jiraiya smiled, Tsunade was in for a surprise.

They all walked outside, casting a genjutsu on the yelling bartender — who was ordering them to pay for the hole in his wall.

They all stood in the empty road, Tsunade smiled, "Even though I look like this, I am one of the legendary Sannin." Tsunade raised a finger, "So I will defeat you using a single finger."

Naruto scowled, "Yeah right, I stood up to Orochimaru in the forest of death and defeated the one-tailed demon. I think that you will have to use more than a single finger to beat me."

They looked at each other, both unmoving. As usual, Naruto lost his patience and charged forward — eyes still activated. Tsunade remained motionless, confident that the brat could easily be defeated. Naruto's eyes spun, merging in the middle to create his demonic version of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

He smirked as Tsunade immediately avoided eye contact. She expected him to place her under an illusion. Instead, he disappeared, reappearing right in front of her. She moved her finger to knock him back, but he exploded, sending her flying backwards.

She did a back flip landing on her feet. The explosion had torn her clothes and sliced into her flesh, but the wounds healed without her making a single seal. He was surprised. '_Daibakuha Bunshin caused no lasting damage?_'

That would have killed a Gennin or even a Chuunin. Naturally he had expected it to hinder her a little at least, but instead, what little damage it dealt disappeared. Fuming, he leapt off the roof he had been watching from, hoping to take her by surprise.

A spinning ball of chakra, slightly larger than a baseball, took shape in the palm of Naruto's hand. He raised his hand back, only to thrust it forward. Tsunade turned, and dodged his attack while knocking his forehead protector off.

His weaker version of the Rasengan hit the dirt road, discharging all of its energy outward. It was not nearly as powerful as Jiraiya's version, but still kicked up a lot of dirt. He rolled on the ground, jumping up and charging Tsunade once again.

He was closing in now, only inches from her. She raised her finger at the last moment and flicked. He was sent ricocheting back into a wall. He got up and performed a summoning technique. Gama appeared wearing battle armor.

The mid-sized summon looked at Tsunade, then Naruto signaled it. Gama's throat bulged, and Naruto started performing seals. The toad launched five bullets of oil at Tsunade while Naruto shouted "**Katon: Karyu Endan.**"

Tsunade was somehow able to dodge all of the oil, not a speck was on her. Pools of oil surrounded her. Just as Naruto's technique activated, an enormous ball of flame in the shape of a dragon came hurtling towards the supposedly doomed woman.

Naruto smiled as he saw his technique flying towards her, but just before it made contact with the oil, she jumped into the air. She practically flew over seventy feet into the air before landing back on the ground — away from the now raging fire.

"You're cleaning that up," the Sannin said matter-of-factly, with her arms crossed. Naruto was shocked; he had used over half of his arsenal and was running out of chakra. He couldn't use Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin in a village. Too many people around that could get hurt, but for some reason he doubted that it would have much effect on this strange and beautiful woman.

Gama said, "You're on your own kid, I ain't fighting that woman." The toad disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving Naruto alone to fight her.

Jiraiya spoke up, "Naruto, stop fighting, you don't stand a chance against her. She was my teammate after all. And she can heal all of her wounds, leaving your attacks useless." Naruto sighed, and walked back to his sensei.

Tsunade frowned, "Jiraiya, why did you teach the kid a jutsu that he can't possibly master?"

Naruto froze mid-stride, turning on his heel to face her, "Who says that I can't master the Rasengan?"

Tsunade smiled, "I do." She crossed her arms and walked over to him. "And I happened to watch as the fourth slowly made progress on it. It took him three years to invent, it took Jiraiya over four months to master, and you, if you think that a wimpy little kid could possibly master it, then you are an even bigger idiot than I thought."

Naruto's eyes flashed dangerously. His voice was raised in anger as he spoke, "I bet you I can master it easily!"

Tsunade smirked, "Care to make a wager on that? I bet that you can't master the Rasengan in a week. If you fail, you give me that fat purse you carry around." Naruto seemed thoughtful for a moment.

He frowned, "And if I win?"

Tsunade laughed, "If you win, I will give you this." She reached behind her neck and unfastened a necklace. Holding it front of her, Naruto saw that it was a blue crystal on a string.

Tsunade spoke again, "It was the First's necklace, my grandfather, and with it you could buy at least three mountains. Not only that, if you win, I will become Hokage. Do you accept the bet?"

Naruto looked at the crystal with something akin to wonder sparkling in his eyes. With a foxy grin plastered across his lips he spoke, "I agree."

Naruto walked away to start his training immediately. Tsunade watched him go saying, "Who does that kid think he is?"

Jiraiya answered, "He is the son of Uchiha Hitomi and the Fourth Hokage, Minato." Tsunade's mouth hung open in surprise. As she tried to place her feelings into words, something told her that she might just lose this bet.

—

Author's Notes: Review, and remember to vote. Sorry that this took so long, I was sick.


	5. Snake Freaks and Fans on Fire?

Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long, but I had this strange virus that kept freezing my computer and I lost a lot of my story. I started a C2, and if you want to join the staff, say so in your reviews or in a message. I have a blog if you want to stay as updated as possible. You can find the url on my profile, it's listed as my homepage.

Blargh: Ino was able to get in because she is a Konoha shinobi — so they didn't think she would do anything. Also, there was mass confusion, which she used to her advantage to take over an ANBU's body. She pretended to be a guard while she eavesdropped. After all, Ino is a master at information gathering. Is that so hard to believe? And as for the ANBU, he reported to the Hokage, but by then Ino had already spread the word.

The pairing is… Naruto/Temari. I may decide on other pairings later on, feel free to vote. I will try to listen, but I won't make any promises.

Disclaimer: Long story short: I don't own Naruto, because if I did, I wouldn't be writing this would I?

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Chips of wood flew in all directions. Hundreds of leafless trees stood motionless. Rocks and boulders were scattered randomly across the forest floor — all of them covered in spiral indentations.

Among the trees and stone stood the cause of all the damage, it was a breathless teen with whisker-like scars running across his cheeks. His eyes were three different shades of blue with a white pupil. He wore a Konoha forehead protector — keeping his blonde hair out of his eyes.

His name is Uchiha Naruto.

A revolving ball of chakra formed in his hand and he thrust it forward into another tree. Chakra dug into the bark, leaving another spiraling mark on the brown skin of the tree.

It had been six days since he had made the bet. He was running out of time. Creating another Rasengan he continued his training. It seemed hopeless. He had made no progress and had little time left.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Tsunade was watching. This kid reminded her of Dan and Nawaki, in that he refused to give up and hadn't stopped surprising her since they had met. She watched as he created Rasengan after Rasengan, but was unable to retain 100 percent of his power in a perfect sphere. She shook her head and walked away, memories rushing through her mind and jumbling her thoughts.

Naruto could only do so much more before he would collapse. There must be a way to finish in time. There had to be a way. Sighing, he stopped. He had to think. Kneeling on the ground, he went to consult the inner confines of his mind… in other words, the Kyuubi.

He materialized in his psyche, a dripping wet maze. The sound of his footsteps resonated through the empty halls. He stepped into a large space. Strange black markings flowed over the walls leading to a large gate.

"Hey Kyuubi, long time no see." Two eyes took form in the shadowy area behind the gates that was its prison. Viciously fanged jaws appeared under the set of eyes, smiling wickedly. They opened to give a bloodcurdling roar.

Naruto smiled unafraid, "This seems familiar fur ball."

"You're as insolent and obnoxious as ever," the Kyuubi commented before laughing wildly. "You never visit, you never call…" the Kyuubi joked. "And what, now you just show up seeking favors?"

Naruto frowned, "I thought I was talking to the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, not some five year old child that must entertain itself with terrible jokes… Maybe you could be going insane just like Gaara's demon, what's his name?" The Kyuubi didn't answer, but chose to growl instead. Naruto continued, "I did come here asking for a favor though, I have a bet to win, but lack the time to complete it by the set date."

Kyuubi smiled, its teeth flashing, "So you want me to help? I refuse. Go do it yourself."

Naruto's smile broadened. He spoke, "Think of your help as rent. This is my body after all." The Kyuubi couldn't help but grin. The brat had more guts than any human he had met except the Fourth. _Must be genetic._

"No way am I going to help you just so you can win some childish bet." Naruto scratched the back of his head frowning.

"That's strange. I thought it would be right up your alley." Naruto stood there, hand behind his head, grinning back at the fur ball. The Kyuubi growled at him and struck through the gate with its claws.

Naruto stumbled backwards to avoid the monstrous nails of the Nine-tailed beast. "Kami (Author's Note: Saying Kami is like saying God), no need to get violent. If you can't help me you should have just said so." Naruto turned and started walking away, his feet making a quiet thud on the old, cracked floor.

Kyuubi snarled from inside the confines of his cage, but otherwise did nothing. Naruto sighed and walked out of the room. He had been sure that would work, but it proved impossible to manipulate the Kyuubi as he wanted to.

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Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, found Naruto lying asleep on the ground in the middle of the forest. She sighed and picked him up, then took him to his room, placing him on his bed. She turned around and was surprised to see Tsunade standing there.

She watched Tsunade walk over to him, "How is he Tsunade-sama?" The legendary medic placed her hand on his head. It glowed for a second while she remained expressionless.

Tsunade spoke, "His chakra is completely exhausted, and his hand burned. In his condition he won't wake up until the day after tomorrow. In other words, he has lost the bet."

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Two heavily lashed eyelids fluttered open exposing the deep-sea blue eyes that lay beneath. Naruto squinted as he sat up, being unprepared for the light that flooded in. The small ache behind his eyes throbbed. His head hurt whenever he tried to use more chakra than he had.

His stomach rumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. All of his chakra was replenished to overflowing, no surprise there. Any ailment he had was always healed after he slept, including his chakra coils.

Slowly becoming more aware of his surroundings, he noted that he was in a bed. Since Jiraiya would be too busy gathering his research and Tsunade would be gambling, that meant that Shizune must have found him and brought him back. He would have to thank her later.

The sound of silence greeted his ears. He froze mid-stretch. _It was… quiet?_ It was never quiet at this time of day. Tsunade was always yelling at Jiraiya for one reason or another, and Jiraiya would always counter with some perverted pun that earned him the deafening slap that was Naruto's alarm clock. Needless to say, something was wrong.

Naruto got out of bed and dressed quickly. He rushed out the door and down the stairs to find that the building was indeed empty. _Where was everyone?_

A thud came from upstairs. Naruto started back up the stairs. He walked into his room and almost into Jiraiya. "Where have you been?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya rubbed his head, "Last night Tsunade told me that Orochimaru asked her to heal his arms." Naruto's heart almost stopped. _Orochimaru, here, asking the medic, rumored to be able to heal any wound, to heal his arms. The Third had died to take away the use of those arms._

Jiraiya was still speaking, "He promised her that he would resurrect the two most important people in her life, her late brother and former lover. I told her that she couldn't trust Orochimaru. She got up and walked away.

"By the time she left I was almost drunk. I had downed a lot of sake and she must have drugged some of it. I am barely above Jounin level right now."

Naruto groaned. Every time he fell asleep something happened. He looked at the Sannin and questioned, "How hard could it be to find a Sannin?"

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It hadn't been as difficult to find her as they had originally thought. Actually, it had been rather simple. All they had to do was follow the long trail of destruction she had left in her wake.

Orochimaru, his arms gray and lifeless, stood atop a large three-headed snake, along side his servant Kabuto. Tsunade seemed to be in shock, and even though Naruto didn't see any wound, there was blood on her face. Jiraiya and Naruto stood in-between the two medics and the great snake.

Naruto activated his eyes and Jiraiya performed Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Naruto hid his smile behind his hand when his sensei only succeeded in summoning Gamakichi, a low-level toad. But the sensible part of his mind said that it was to be expected, the greatest medic-nin that ever existed had drugged the poor guy.

Naruto ran through a set of seals. Once they had finished, a ball of spiked chakra rested in each hand. He smashed them together and drove them into the ground. "**Doton: Bunshin Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!** (Earth Release: Clone Inner Decapitation Technique)" Naruto yelled. Jiraiya face-faulted.

Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu was a D-rank jutsu in which the user hid in the ground under his opponent, then reached up to grab their ankles and pulled them down until only their head was exposed. From the sound of it Naruto had only changed it so a clone did it. Jiraiya was right, but not in the way he had expected.

Two giant versions of Naruto's hands rose from the ground on either side of the three-headed snake, they were so large they made it look like a simple garden snake. They grasped its thrashing body in their monstrous palms and pulled it under ground until only its three heads were left above ground.

Jiraiya smiled. That was a powerful jutsu, easily a B-rank. He would have to get Naruto to teach it to him later.

Naruto dodged one of the snake's heads as it came down upon him. The next head wasn't so luck. It came down on a Daibakuha clone, but the explosion didn't do much against its large and heavily scaled head. Jiraiya spoke, "Shizune, go fight Kabuto and Naruto stay back. I will deal with Orochimaru."

Orochimaru waited on top of his snake's head. Mere moments later Jiraiya appeared in the air above him — attempting a spin kick to Orochimaru's head. He dodged it while shooting his tongue out at Jiraiya, but it missed.

"That apprentice of yours… it's a shame that he is the Kyuubi's container," the snake Sannin stated, as he kicked the hardened spikes of hair that surrounded Jiraiya.

"His Sharingan is much more powerful than Sasuke's. Eventually it may become more powerful that Itachi's. His chakra supply is greater than even mine, and his control is gaining. Not only that, but he seems to be adept at inventing new jutsu." Lust was apparent in the snake-like eyes of Orochimaru.

Normally Jiraiya would welcome the complement on his student, but the fact that it came from Orochimaru had him worried. He didn't like the idea that his former teammate was interested in his apprentice.

"It would also have been fascinating to see how the cursed seal would react with the Fourth's seal and the Kyuubi…" Orochimaru trailed off as he grabbed Jiraiya's ankle with his tongue and bashed him against one of the snake heads.

Jiraiya grunted and wrapped his body in spiky hair — forcing Orochimaru to let go or have his tongue sliced into pieces. "It is not only bloodlines that make a person powerful. Naruto had immense potential before he even activated his eyes. Hard work and guts can make you more powerful than an Uchiha. You should know that, after all, none of the legendary Sannin have a bloodline, and yet we are among the most powerful ninja in existence.

"It is guts and stubbornness that make ninja powerful. It's the drive to never give up, an ambition to become stronger, and the ability to control that ambition that truly makes someone strong." Jiraiya finished his lecture and sent a silent prayer to Kami for his student.

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The fight between Kabuto and Shizune wasn't going so well. Kabuto's glowing palm sliced at Shizune's heel, cutting her tendons. She fell over grasping her heel and Kabuto just walked past her. He walked over to Tsunade and raised a fist to hit her.

"**Leave me alone!**" she screamed.

Tsunade raised her arms in front of her and waited for the impact. It didn't come. Naruto had taken the hit, and now stood in front of her facing Kabuto, "Unfortunately for you, I don't enjoy being fooled by back-stabbing traitors. I won't allow you to harm the future Hokage."

Naruto started gathering chakra in his hand. The sound of one thousand birds chirping rang through the air. "**Chidori!**" he yelled, thrusting his arm forward. Kabuto jumped as high as he could to avoid the attack.

Naruto spun on his heel and jumped into the air after him. He swung his Chidori-charged arm in a seemingly wild arc, that had actually been calculated down to the last centimeter, to meet the medic directly in the heart.

Kabuto smiled before falling away into mud. _A mud Kawarimi no Jutsu!_ Naruto realized too late. A sharp pain cut into his leg. Naruto gasped and turned to see Kabuto drag a glowing hand from the top of Naruto's calf to his heel.

They landed with their backs to each other. Naruto grunted in pain and grasped his leg. His calf muscle had been shredded along with his tendon. He concentrated his chakra in that area as his internal wound knitted itself back together (complements of the Kyuubi).

Naruto stood just in time to see Kabuto charging at him with the chakra scalpel. Kabuto pushed his palm forward and Naruto caught it in his hand. Kabuto's eyes widened and Naruto answered the unasked question, "My eyes can see how you manipulate your chakra to create your blade. I simply placed my own chakra into it and controlled it the same way."

Kabuto's eyes narrowed, "You copied the chakra scalpel?"

Naruto grinned exposing his sharp canines. His impossibly large grin grew in size. "No, I don't have the chakra control necessary for that technique, but this situation has given me an advantage. Now neither of us can pull away without it exploding in their face — leaving you with only one usable arm."

Kabuto realized he was right. The scalpel become unstable once Naruto's chakra had been added into it. If one of them removed their chakra the result would be a large explosion. "But you only have the use of one arm as well."

"Ha! You are either bad at math or blind." On cue, five clones popped into existence charging at Kabuto. The medic threw a single kunai in their direction. It multiplied into hundreds of metal projectiles. Not one clone was left. "Well that was mean," Naruto said as he punched the medic hard in the face.

The two struggled for any advantage they could find. A flurry of blows and kicks lashed out at each other as they grasped for weapons. They toppled over and rolled on the ground, both trying to injure each other in any way possible — as they struggled to maintain the chakra scalpel.

The three comma-like pupils in Naruto's eyes swirled in a circle, meeting in the middle to form the demonic version of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto smiled again, turning his head towards the sky. He disappeared, leaving Kabuto with the unstable blade.

"Crap," Kabuto whispered just as it exploded.

Naruto watched the explosion from the safety of the air. He fell towards the earth, angling his body in Tsunade and Shizune's direction. After channeling chakra in his legs to brace himself, he landed a few feet away from them.

Naruto placed his hands on his knees panting. He looked over at the area that he and Kabuto had been wrestling in. Through the dust he could distinguish the outline of a tall figure slowly walking towards him.

Kabuto smiled as he walked out of the billowing cloud of dust and dirt — while charging his hand with a second chakra scalpel. The confident medic-nin spoke, "That was interesting, but it won't work twice."

With a smile on his face, he pushed his glasses up and pulled out a card. "You said this during the last Chuunin exam, right? 'Screw you! I am not going to run away. I'll take this shit! Even if I stay a Gennin forever, I will still become Hokage no matter what! So I don't give a shit! I'm not scared.'

"Could you say the same thing now?" Kabuto laughed. "Could you honestly say that you aren't scared of me? Right now you are low on chakra, but I have more than half of my reserves and don't have a scratch on me, even after that explosion." It was true, his cloths were torn and battered, but Kabuto was unharmed.

Tsunade looked up as she heard those words. It was as if an alarm had gone off in her mind. She remembered her brother and lover telling her of their dreams of becoming Hokage. She thought of Naruto and his words.

Kabuto spoke again, "Do you want to die? Your dream can never come true if you're dead." The silver-haired medic laughed.

Tears came to Tsunade's eyes as she remembered saying the same thing to her brother. She had told him to run from battle, but she knew he wouldn't listen. He had died not long after. She touched her necklace and thought of Dan. He had died in battle as well, but there was a difference. She had been there with Dan, her lover, when he had died, and was unable to help him. Would the same thing be true for Naruto?

Naruto looked at Kabuto, his eyes hard. It was time for his trump card. A clone popped into existence at Naruto's side. "I will never take back my words." Kabuto laughed and charged Naruto.

Tsunade stared at Naruto. The bet, was it possible? Had he mastered it? She watched as Naruto finished forming the Rasengan and his clone popped out of existence. He threw his arm forward into Kabuto's gut just as the chakra scalpel hit him right above the heart.

Blue chakra dug into the medic's gut before it expanded and sent him flying into a bolder — tearing up a large amount of earth. Naruto's knees buckled and he toppled over.

Tsunade was shocked. _In one week?_ She got up and walked over to Naruto. Kneeling beside him, she brushed the hair out of his face. Looking in the direction Kabuto had been blown, she saw that the young man was still alive. He was limping towards her. She was surprised to say the least. "How are you still standing? That was a full fledged Rasengan."

He smirked, "I started gathering chi before he hit me. Chi allows me to regenerate my cells. Consequently, I seem to have used up most of my chakra." Kabuto smiled and took another staggering step. He froze for a moment before he fell flat on his face. _Impossible, even though I was able to regenerate, there is still too much damage… I have almost no chakra left._

Naruto twitched. Tsunade looked back at the young teen and placed her ear against his chest. His heartbeat was irregular and faint. She unzipped the orange jacket and ripped his shirt off. "Damn that Kabuto. How did he tear up Naruto's heart from that far away?"

Naruto lay unmoving as she slowly started to heal his wounds. "Don't bother… Tsunade… He won't last much longer… I have severed the flow of chakra to his heart, rendering all attempts at healing him useless… even by you," Kabuto said smiling as he lay in the dirt.

"Shut it," Tsunade said, barely glancing at him. "No need to get impatient, I will kill you in a moment."

She pumped even more chakra into her healing jutsu with no effect. His heart was slowing down, growing fainter. Tsunade shook her head, "I will heal you," she whispered on the verge of tears. Her hands glowed steadily brighter as she tried to repair his heart. He stopped breathing.

Her eyes welled up and a single tear fell onto Naruto's seal. _Don't die… please don't die…_ A second crept by so slowly it seemed to take an eternity. She was no longer able to hold back her tears and they flowed freely.

She closed her eyes about ready to give up. "About that bet…" a voice said quietly before trailing off, Naruto's voice. Her eyes shot open. Naruto was staring at her. He smiled and reached up to grab her necklace.

His hand fell, but she caught it. He had fallen asleep. Tsunade whispered, "You won." She reached behind her head and untied the knot. Bringing her hands back down and tied the green crystal around Naruto's neck. (Author's Note: In my last chapter I said that the crystal was blue, but I have been told that it is green. Sorry, I am going on memory here.)

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"I wish I could have seen it! I can't believe I slept through your fight with Orochimaru." Naruto was disappointed. He had slept through a large-scale battle between the legendary Sannin. He pouted, "You could have at least killed Kabuto. I mean seriously, I had him so he couldn't even move and you guys out numbered Orochimaru two to one. Pitiful."

Jiraiya frowned. "He is really powerful, and I was drugged. It was hardly a fair fight." Tsunade shook her head. The two hadn't stopped fighting since they started back towards Konoha. How childish.

Naruto laughed, "Hardly a fair fight? He couldn't use his arms! And you had Tsunade with you. From what I heard, she did most of the work. You were like knocked out lying on the ground somewhere. Maybe if you had helped more you might have beaten him."

Jiraiya's eyes bulged. "Why you little-!" Tsunade slapped the back of Jiraiya's head. "What was that for? I didn't do anything. It was all him!"

Tsunade crossed her arms and stopped walking down the dirt road they were traveling on. "You are a grown man! No. You are an old man. So stop acting like a child." Jiraiya frowned. "And you Naruto. I expected more of you. After all, you are an Uchiha right? I thought they were all dark, creepy, and most importantly quiet." Naruto stuck his tongue out. Tsunade responded by pulling her bottom eyelid down and giving him a wet raspberry.

Shizune spoke up, "Tsunade, didn't you just lecture him on maturity? And you have an obligation to act more mature since you are becoming the Hokage." Tsunade just frowned and started walking. Naruto and Jiraiya laughed until she punched them both again.

They kept on walking in silence until Naruto spoke up. "Ero-sensei, what cool jutsu are you going to teach me next?" Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment. "W-E-L-L?" Naruto asked dragging it out for emphasis.

Jiraiya looked down at the blonde-haired maelstrom. "Well… you need to work on your chakra control the most, so I'd say we should have Tsunade teach you some control techniques."

Tsunade frowned. "Why me? You're his sensei."

Jiraiya smiled, "Because you are the medic-nin. How could my chakra control possibly compete with yours?" Tsunade gave Jiraiya a scathing look.

"You just want to put him off on me so you can go do your perverted research and write your idiot books."

Jiraiya shook his head. "No way! I would never do that. I thought that you must have some exercise you use to increase your control since you're a medic. And if I have some free time to do some research then that's just an added benefit…" his voice trailed off and his eyes twinkled.

Tsunade looked ready to drive his head into the dirt, but Shizune calmed her down by reminding her that as the future Hokage she must act like one at all times.

"Fine, since I'm becoming the Hokage, I am telling you as your leader to increase Naruto's control as much as possible before we arrive at Konoha. That gives you about four days." Tsunade looked very proud of herself. She had given her first mission.

"It's a B-rank mission, since you have little time and the student has little natural chakra control." She ignored Naruto's loud response. "You will get paid the normal amount for a B-rank mission, okay Shizune?" Her assistant nodded.

"So, Shizune-sensei, how are you going to teach me chakra control?" Naruto looked up at his new sensei.

"You already know tree climbing and water walking since those were necessary for the Rasengan… So I guess I will teach you a training exercise that Tsunade and I came up with in our travels.

"In this exercise you need to release just enough chakra from your hand to cause a blade of grass to hover above it. If you release too much chakra the grass will fly away, and if you release too little nothing will happen. How high it floats depends on how much chakra you emit. You want it to hover about three inches above your palm.

"Once you master this exercise with a blade of grass we will move on to a leaf. You do this with both hands, any questions?" Naruto shook his head. Shizune smiled, "Okay, then you can get started."

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"What the hell…" a woman in a cat mask whispered. She was one of the three ANBU posted to guard the gates of Konoha. What she saw walking towards her was a very unique sight. A small group of people were walking down the dirt road to Konoha.

The most normal looking one had straight brown hair and brown eyes. A small pet pig wearing clothing walked beside her. Aside from the pig, she looked normal enough, but you could tell by the way she moved that, like the rest of the group, she was an experienced shinobi.

A taller woman about the same age walked beside her. She was a 'well endowed' blonde with a blue dot in the center of her forehead. She looked tired and grumpy, and the fact that everyone stayed at arms' length from her that she was unhappy.

An older man, with long, white hair down to his knees, strutted to the side of the road. He was dressed in brown and white clothes, and wooden sandals. He sported a demon forehead protector and wore a crooked grin. He was rubbing a red hand mark on the side of his face — that suggested he had been slapped very recently. The ANBU correctly guessed that he was the reason that the blonde woman was irritable.

But the character that had caught her attention was a young man in a tight black T-shirt and baggy black pants. He had untamable blonde hair, that was just barely kept out of his eyes by a leaf forehead protector. Three black whisker marks ran down each cheek, making his handsome face seem almost animalistic. What had drawn her attention to him in the first place was that he had two kunai hovering a good four inches above each of his palms.

The odd group reached the gates a few moments later and didn't even spare the ANBU a second glance. "Halt. State your names and business in Konoha." The grumpy blonde woman sent her a withering look that made her skin crawl.

"You are looking at the future Hokages of Konoha," stated the blonde with the floating kunai. He glanced at her and grinned.

A little bewildered she asked, "Future Hokages?" Her cat mask hid her questioning look, "Explain."

The blonde let the kunai slowly lower until the ends were pressed against the inside of his hands. He then grabbed them from the air quickly and stashed them in a pocket. Giving her another smile he said, "That is Tsunade, one of the legendary three. I was sent to ask her to become the next Hokage, and of course you must have heard of me. I, Uchiha Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha."

The ANBU was surprised, _Uchiha Naruto?_ She had heard about his fan club and now knew why it had been established.

The old, white-haired man spoke up, "Actually, I, Jiraiya of the legendary three, was sent to retrieve my teammate Tsunade. I brought my apprentice along and he helped out."

Naruto cried out in outrage, "What! Helped out! I did all the work. I was the one that actually convinced her to come. She told you she wouldn't accept!" The ANBU smiled at the blonde's actions.

The ANBU looked over at her colleges. One of them brought over a dog that sniffed each of them. After it barked a few times the ANBU said that they were whom they claimed to be. The female ANBU nodded at Tsunade, "Word of your arrival has already been sent to the Hokage tower. They will expect you momentarily.

"Jiraiya, I was told to give this to you as soon as you arrived." The ANBU handed the Sannin a file, which he opened immediately.

"Already? I just got back!" The frog hermit made a face before turning to Tsunade. "I have a mission. It seems we have a shortage of ninja at the moment." Jiraiya turned back down the road and summoned Gama. He climbed on top of the middle-sized toad and they took off at incredible speed.

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Naruto walked up to a wooden door with a single ANBU posted there. It was his first day back and he had been given a message to meet the Hokage. The ANBU opened the door for him.

Naruto sauntered into the Hokage's office to see Tsunade at her new desk, elbows on its edge, massaging her temples. She glanced his way and Naruto scowled, "I was in the middle of my lunch. What do you want?"

Tsunade grimaced, "A group of twenty Sound-nin kidnapped a Sand-nin this morning. Sixteen of them were defeated by the various Leaf-nin that had accompanied her. She was part of a group the Sand had sent to help rebuild what had been destroyed in the invasion. Your job mission is to find the remaining four Sound-nin, kill or incapacitate them, and return the Sand-nin safely. You have no team, so don't bother asking."

"Not that I can't do it by my self, but, why don't I have a team? I have to admit Hinata's eyes or Kiba's nose would be nice."

"Because we don't have the ninja to spare. We were just attacked, in case you hadn't noticed, and hurry it up. Every second you waste standing there they are getting farther away."

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Incandescent silvery light danced upon the soft moss-shrouded terrain. The threads of radiant moonlight laced themselves through the countless boughs of the great forest.

Naruto had used henge to take the form of an ebony wolf, and was weaving through the colossal trunks of the great trees. He paused and sniffed the foliage before continuing the crazed pursuit after the would-be kidnappers.

He had been at it for hours and was closing in. The scent of something burning reached his nose and he came to an abrupt halt. Raising his nose, he sniffed the cool night air. Definitely smoke. Their camp must be nearby.

Turning around, he ran farther away from the camp. He didn't want them to hear what he was doing. He released the henge and formed a few hand seals — resulting in an audible pop. He had created a single clone. He headed back towards the camp, his clone going in another direction.

The wind brought voices to his ears, but he was too far away to decipher what they were saying. As he closed in, the voices became more distinct and he could catch some of the words being said.

The light from their campfire was visible now. Wisps of smoke spun upward, making strange shapes in the dark before it was carried off by the wind. They must have felt safe to make a fire, which was understandable really. They hadn't crossed anyone's path on their way and they had put miles between them and Konoha.

All four of them were male. The largest in the group had what Naruto presumed was the Sand girl laying on the ground next to him. She had bags over her head and hands, so she was unable to form seals. Ropes secured her wrists to her ankles so she couldn't move.

Looking at the rest of the camp he noticed something strange about the fire. Instead of burning wood, it looked like they were burning a large fan. Naruto thought back to the Chuunin exam, there had been a Sand-nin with a large fan. It must be a popular fighting style in Wind Country.

Eavesdropping on the conversation, he tried to find out why they had kidnapped the girl. It looked like he hadn't missed much of it, lucky him, "-Sand counsel is voting for the next Kazekage. Gaara was among those nominated. No wonder Orochimaru wants his sister. We could blackmail them into joining us." Everyone in the group laughed at that.

If the Sound gained control of the Sand a second time, the results could be devastating. Especially if they chose to attack while Konoha was still rebuilding… Naruto shivered. _Wasn't Gaara's sister that Temari person, the one that fought Shikamaru?_ That would explain the burning fan. He mentally told his clone to hurry up, just as a huge wave of killing intent was unleashed. Immediately all conversation ceased and the four ninja got into their separate battle stances.

Naruto watched as his clone walked out of the shadows from the other side of the camp. "Sorry for interrupting your little… chat, but you are so boring to watch." None of the Sound-nin said anything. Instead, one formed four hand seals and sent some kind of liquid dragon hurtling towards the clone. It was sidestepped with ease. The dragon hit a tree behind him. It began sizzling and smoking as the liquid dug into its bark.

"An acid dragon? Is that a way to greet a guest?" the clone declared, as it activated its Sharingan. Naruto was mentally cheering on his clone, so far so good.

There was no visible reaction from the Sound-nin for a few moments. They seemed to be waiting for the doppelganger to make the first move. Finally they lost their patience and charged forward.

Their attention distracted, Naruto darted forward and grabbed the girl. She struggled, but stopped when he whispered who he was. Once he felt he had sufficient distance between him and the clone he formed a single one-handed seal. A resounding boom followed.

Naruto stopped running and set Temari on the ground. He began untying the ropes around her wrists and ankles. He then removed the bags on her head and hands. Stepping back, he took a good look at her. She was out of breath and the fire in her eyes reveled that she was livid.

She was wearing a very small, form-fitting, short sleeve, white jacket with a tight, fishnet shirt underneath. Her Sand forehead protector was tied around her neck with the same white fabric. She had on a short white skirt with a pair of fishnet shorts beneath. On her feet she wore a pair of white sandals. Naruto struggled not to blush, the outfit was very revealing.

Naruto offered her his hand, but she ignored it, choosing to stand up without his help. "What was that?" she didn't even bother to look at him and instead began to dust off her clothes.

Naruto smiled, "That is called a hand. You see, when someone falls over or is trying to get up a mannered person offers-"

Temari cut him off, "No, not that. The explosion." She frowned. It was kind of cute. Naruto mouthed 'oh'.

"Well, I have this jutsu call 'Daibakuha Jaibaku Bunshin' and it allows me to clone my whole body or an item on my person, like a kunai. The clone explodes when I form a certain hand seal or if it is destroyed. The bigger the item I clone, the bigger the explosion. That was a full body clone, so the explosion was probably big enough to blowup a good portion of Konoha if it was inside the walls. There is no way the Sound-nin could have escaped."

Temari looked at his face for the first time. He looked familiar… the messy blonde hair and the three black whisker marks that ran down each cheek framing his face. _He was that Naruto kid!_ The one that had defeated Gaara, but he stood taller than her now. He was about three inches taller than he was at the Chuunin exam. Was that even possible? It had only been like a month and a half.

Her eyes traveled lower, inspecting his clothes. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt that showed off his muscles, and baggy black pants with a small orange spiral on one of the many pockets. A pair of black bracers covered his forearms and went over his hands like finger-less gloves. He had on a pair of black sneakers with orange shoelaces.

Naruto grinned and she blushed. "Let's hurry back," Naruto said, before taking off quickly. Temari followed him, trying to get rid of her deepening blush as she wondered why she was blushing in the first place.

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Author's Notes: Be sure to tell me if something in my writing is confusing. Again, I started a C2, and if you want to join the staff, say so in your reviews or in a message. I have a blog if you want to stay as updated as possible. You can find the url on my profile, it's listed as my homepage.


	6. Dreams and Bone Shifters

Author's Notes: Did you like how the last chapter ended? On a scale of one to ten, what do you think of my story? In case you didn't notice, Naruto's chakra control has increased a lot from the time he was able to create a fully-formed Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin without getting very tired. One more thing before the story begins: Naruto's eyes don't have the same powers as Itachi's. He can't summon the black fire of the sun god or create an unbreakable illusion just by making eye contact. He _can_ use them to teleport instantly as long as where he is teleporting to is in his direct line of sight. (I need a name for this, any ideas?) They also have other powers that I will chose to reveal… eventually.

Enjoy the story!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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_Naruto was unable to move, as he remained motionless, suspended above water. He felt the clawed hand around his throat dig into the tender flesh. Naruto cast his eyes to the blue ceiling of the world. The sky was darkening and black storm clouds hung ominously on the horizon._

_Sickening purple energy flowed from the winged creature in front of him. The familiar sound of one thousand birds chirping didn't even register in his ears as he gazed back towards the demon that held his very life in its hands._

_Sasuke… was that Sasuke? The winged creature pushed its arm forward, a strange purple and black Chidori in the palm of its hand. The hand seemed to move in slow motion towards Naruto's heart. 'SASUKE!'_

Naruto's sweating body shot up. Half asleep, his eyes scanned his room — almost expecting to see Sasuke watching him with a pair of hand-like wings sprouting from his back. After a moment his logical side kicked in and told him that his dream had been just that, a dream.

He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. He heard the subtle creaking sound of his door opening. His eyes burst open. There in his doorway stood Temari, fan drawn, wearing a short, tan nightgown.

Naruto just stared at her with a slightly bewildered look on his face, wondering why the hell she was in his house. Then it came rushing back to him. Tsunade had told him that due to the destruction caused during the invasion, there weren't enough homes for the residents of Konoha, let alone all of the hired ninja. As such, he had offered one of his spare rooms to the girl — since he now had so many that were going to waste.

Tsunade had also informed him of the ninja that had attempted to protect Temari from the Sound-nin. They had all been his friends, or at least he had known all of them. Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Shino, and Kiba were all in the hospital with substantial injuries. He had gone with Temari to visit earlier, but those lousy, half-brained, sad-excuses for nurses refused to let them in. According to the nurses, the group was sleeping and couldn't be disturbed.

_How could they all have been sleeping?_ Naruto thought, fuming.

Temari brought him out of the sulk he had gone into with a resounding, "Well?" Her eyes scanned the whole room before resting on him.

Naruto frowned at her, "Well, what?" Temari gave an exasperated sigh; she was not a night person.

"I felt a large amount of killing intent coming from this room. Naturally I assumed that we were under attack or something. That is, unless you just stay up at night and radiate killing intent for the fun of it…" Temari sent him a questioning look. It wasn't _that_ hard for her to believe, Gaara had done it before he had been defeated in the battle against Naruto.

Naruto's eyes furrowed, killing intent? Had someone been in his room? He looked up at the white ceiling, trying to think of what could have been the cause. To Temari it seemed as if Naruto had suddenly gained an intense interest in the ceiling, and it was incredibly boring to watch.

"Fine, if you won't tell me, then that's _your_ problem, see you in the morning." She spared him one more glance before walking out of the entryway and closing the door.

Naruto lay back down and closed his eyes, his mind an inundation of speeding thoughts. Was the killing intent connected to his dream? Maybe the killing intent had been the cause of his dream, but it could also be argued that the dream may have caused the killing intent.

He sighed, and began to delve into the back of his mind. To an onlooker it would appear as if he was meditating, but in truth, he was contacting the spirit he jailed within his stomach. The Kyuubi had become sort of an advisor to Naruto, maybe not a very willing one, but its knowledge was useful and usual accurate, so Naruto hoped it would be able to clear up a few questions he had.

Naruto opened his eyes and stood. Yellow tiling and dripping pipes filled the room. Markings covered the walls, all leading to a single piece of paper that read simply 'seal', located in the middle of two large doors. A pair of blood-shot eyes appeared in the darkness behind them, followed by a mouth of behemoth proportions.

Now the sight of this would make most men shit themselves, but considering how many times Naruto and Kyuubi had gone through this, it just seemed a little annoying. "Are you always this theatrical? You do this every time. And when are you going to fix that pink eye problem?"

Kyuubi made a sound that Naruto decided was a grumble before the beast said, "Well it's not like I have anything better to do. And it's not pink eye, you dolt. My eyes are naturally red. Besides, you can't tell me you just came here to exchange small talk." Naruto shook his head and frowned a little.

"Kyuubi, I just had this really strange dream, and I'm willing to bet good money that you are connected to it. It was also accompanied by a large amount of killing intent. Care to explain why you have been messing with my dreams?"

The Kyuubi looked down at Naruto with one of its large eyes. It spoke in a deep rumble that caused dust to fall from the cracks in the ceiling, in what Naruto assumed was the Kyuubi's version of an 'inside voice', "It was… sort of a warning. It's what is going to happen if you follow Sasuke."

Naruto gave the Kyuubi a look of pure bewilderment, "Follow Sasuke? Where exactly would I be following him?"

"Naruto, Sasuke's thirst for power will cause him to flee Konoha. In the forest of death, Orochimaru gave Sasuke a seal. The seal basically forces a knock-off of demonic chakra to be drawn out from the person when activated. This gives them much more power than they usually have, but it also allows Orochimaru to control the user.

"Sasuke will leave Konoha so he can receive a fully-formed version of the seal, and so he can be trained by Orochimaru. When this happens, you must not follow him or he will kill you in the hopes of gaining an advanced Sharingan like his brother's."

Naruto couldn't believe what the Kyuubi was saying. Sasuke would never abandon his teammates. Never. He wouldn't just up and leave his home to pursue such outlandish ambitions with some girly, snake guy. Then again, what reason would the Kyuubi have to tell him this if it wasn't true? Did the Kyuubi get something from Naruto believing that Sasuke would leave? Maybe the twisted fox just wanted to have some fun scaring Naruto. The fox had said it himself, '_It's not like I have anything better to do._'

Naruto shook his head, "No! You're lying! Sasuke would never do that to Konoha, or to Sakura and all of his friends!"

Kyuubi growled, "He already has! Just this night he has fled Konoha with followers of Orochimaru!"

Naruto took an angry step toward the Kyuubi, "How would you know? You're stuck in here!"

Kyuubi roared, "JUST BECAUSE I AM TRAPPED IN THIS IDIOTIC SEAL DOES NOT MEAN THAT I CAN'T WATCH WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND ME! WHILE YOU SLEEP, THE SEAL WEAKENS ENOUGH FOR ME TO WATCH THROUGH THE EYES OF-!" Naruto left the mindscape in a rage, not even letting the damned fox finish his sentence. Sasuke hadn't left and he would prove it.

Returned to the real world, Naruto leapt from his bed, opened the nearest window and dashed into the darkness of the starless night.

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Sasuke hadn't been in his house, or at any other place Naruto could think of. Frantically he searched for Sasuke, running along the shadowed streets of Konoha. He had created hundred of clones for the search, and had found no sign of his raven-haired teammate. His searching eyes fell upon pink hair — standing out in stark contrast to the silver light of the moon.

Sakura was sleeping on a bench, bubble gum pink hair falling around her still wet cheeks. She had been crying recently. His heart skipped a beat, had Sasuke hurt her? He sped up until he was standing over her. He kneeled beside her and shook her gently. She opened her emerald green eyes and they focused on Naruto.

She grabbed his shoulder and sat up, looking him straight in the eyes. "Naruto. S-sasuke, he left! H-he wouldn't li-listen to me. I couldn't e-even convince him to take me with him," she said, her voice wobbly, fresh tears began rolling down her flushed face. She sobbed and clutched his shoulder harder. Falling into him, she wrapping her other arm around his neck. Naruto hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"Sakura… go tell Tsunade that Sasuke has left. I promise you, no, I give you my word that I will bring him back…" Naruto whispered into her ear before he dissipating into smoke, it had been a shadow clone.

Having received word from his clone, Naruto activated his eyes and turned them towards the walls of Konoha. He disappeared, leaving no trace that he had been there.

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Sakura wasted no time in sprinting towards the Hokage tower. Charging through Chuunin guards, ANBU, and anyone else unlucky enough to be in her way. She reached Tsunade's door without too much trouble — since everyone there recognized her as the Uchiha's teammate. Ignoring the protesting guards, she smashed the door right off its hinges and charged into the room.

Tsunade was, unsurprisingly, dead to the world in her drunken slumber. Sakura rushed over to the desk and was about to shake the sleeping Tsunade when she found a kunai at her throat. Tsunade seemed to be wide-awake now, and was the one wielding it. Sakura gulped. Once Tsunade realized it was Sakura and not a threat, she seemed to remember that she had a hang over and lowered her hand, groaning.

"Sakura, never rush into my office like that again, I might accidentally kill you. Now what is so important that you couldn't be bothered to knock first?" Remembering that this was a Sannin, it shouldn't be too surprising that Tsunade had reflexes like that… Sakura told her the whole story.

By the end, Tsunade seemed to have an even worse hang over than before. Sakura waited for Tsunade to start yelling for a team of ANBU or hunter-nin to go retrieve her two abroad teammates.

Silence, Tsunade was rubbing her temples. "Well aren't you going to send for a team to go after them?" Sakura exclaimed.

Tsunade shook her head, "I can't, we have no one to spare for missions. Our current weakness demands that the few senior nin left in the village, remain here. I would send Shikamaru and the others, but they are still recovering from the fight with Temari's kidnappers. We literally have no one to send, it is up to Naruto to bring Sasuke back."

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Naruto had used his eyes to get him over the wall undetected, and then proceeded to find Sasuke's trail. It wasn't easy, but with his eyes he was able to follow it. They were good at covering their trail, but his Sharingan allowed him to see even the smallest detail and exploit it to his advantage. Everything seemed blurred as he leapt from branch to branch, using them like slings to increase his speed.

A small glint up ahead caused him to stop immediately, wires. Near invisible and sharp enough to cut him to pieces. He inspected them closely, making sure that there wasn't a double trap, there was. The silver wires were there to distract you from the green wires just above the grass. Their colors were identical, and if you tried to avoid the silver wires, but failed to notice the green ones you could lose a foot or two.

Jumping above _all_ of the wires and treetops, Naruto landed safely on the other side and continued his race. He was closing in and he knew it. Those wires must have taken some time to put up, and the tracks of the Sound group were recent. He was only minutes away.

Making twenty Kage Bunshin, he started to consider his options. A few more moments of running and Naruto heard a male voice. "We shouldn't have stopped so soon. We've only been running for a few hours! What if someone catches up to us?"

The next voice was harsh and contradicting, but obviously female. "Because, fat-ass, we need Sasuke to receive the complete seal, so when we reach Orochimaru he is ready for the transfer. Besides, they probably don't even know he is missing yet." Naruto grinned. She didn't know how wrong she was.

His twenty clones circled the small group while he waited. There was a guy with six arms, a guy so fat that he would put even Akimichi Chouza to shame, and another man that seemed to be half asleep without anything really remarkable about him. Then there was the girl wearing a strange hat, that seemed to swear a lot. They sat around a fire, arguing nonstop. Next to the fat one was a wooden barrel covered in seals, that he assumed Sasuke was in.

All of his clones performed the same technique at the same time — complements of Shikamaru. The long shadows created by the fire suddenly darkened and moved under the feet of the four Sound-nin. They stopped moving at once, frozen in place.

Naruto's clones ran out of the woods, each forming a seal with their hands. Five clones surrounded each of the four Nin as close as they could to the nin to increase the jutsu's power. When Shikamaru performed the jutsu it was powerful. When five clones, of the endless chakra pit that was Naruto, performed it on a single person it created something that would cause even Tsunade immense trouble.

The real Naruto ran in just as a large wave of killing intent hit him. Each of the Sound were activating their seals, one even grew horns. Naruto paid them no mind, he had to grab that barrel and get out of there.

A spiked leg hurtled toward him. He grabbed it and flipped over — while sending his foot through the air towards the opponent's head, but he was gone. Naruto looked around in confusion, where had he- a body launched itself out of his stomach. Fearful eyes stared at him.

This guy had just left through Naruto's very skin! '_What the hell was he?_' The teen had one horn and a spiky metal arm and leg. A nasty burn covering the one side of his body that wasn't metal. The horned man spoke loudly, "Brother, he has something inside him! It almost killed me!"

Had Kyuubi decided to help a little? An audible pop resounded through the trees — the pop of a clone being destroyed. Naruto turned to see one of the men trapped in the shadow bind shooting golden arrows out of his mouth, destroying the clones that held him in place. Once he was released, he started freeing his teammates.

'_Shit! I underestimated these guys. They left one member out on patrol in case anyone came here to retrieve Sasuke, and that six-armed guy broke out of his shadow bind without any trouble at all!_' Naruto created a new clone, grabbed the barrel, looked in a random direction, and disappeared.

He teleported again and again, trying to get as far away as fast as possible. A moment later he formed a seal. A mushroom-shaped cloud shot up on the horizon, and a large roar rung through the silent night air.

Naruto collapsed unconscious. Using his eyes' powers so many times, and performing Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin had consumed nearly all of his chakra.

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A power surge woke Naruto. Judging by the position of the sun, it was sometime in the middle of the day now. Naruto sat up, searching for the source of the surge. The barrel. It was surrounded by swirling purple and black chakra. The paper seals that held the lid on began to burn off slowly. Was Sasuke being released?

Naruto took a battle stance and waited. Would Sasuke attack him when he got out? He had replenished his chakra stores and he would be able to defeat a normal Sasuke, but with Orochimaru's seal activated would he be able to?

Something dug into his arm. Naruto cried out and grabbed it. Using his fingers, he pulled out an oval rock or something. He wiped the blood off and found it was a bone, but it wasn't like any bone he had ever seen. It was heavier and harder than most bones, and the shape was definitely unique. Looking around him, he tried to discover where the bone had come from. A willowy teen with long white hair stood on the edge of the clearing.

The teen raised its arm and Naruto activated his eyes. He could see the same bone-like missiles being hurtling towards him. He jumped over them and ran towards the enemy nin. Forming seals, he raised his right arm to his mouth and blew. A long tongue of flame shot at his enemy — taking the form of a dragon's head.

The willowy teen dodged and raised his arm again. This time Naruto was able to see what created the bone missiles. Out of the teen's very hand a kunai made of bone formed, which he then threw at Naruto.

Naruto rolled to the side and stood, kunai in hand. The teen stood there staring at him. He looked like he had one foot in the grave already with that waxy skin. "Who are you?" Naruto demanded. The teen cocked his head to one side and raised his left arm to his right shoulder. A handle-like bone was forming there, which he grabbed.

"I am a servant of Orochimaru-sama, and I have come to retrieve Sasuke. You left no tracks even though you were carrying such weight, so you must be skilled, but I will stop at nothing to win this fight for Orochimaru-sama."

Naruto watched as he pulled a bone sword from his shoulder. "How are you doing that?"

The teen twirled the sword in his hand. "I have a bloodline allowing me to create and manipulate the bone within my body. The more chakra I place in the bone, the denser it is." Naruto was a little worried now. The Sharingan was unable to copy any jutsu dependent on a bloodline.

Naruto pulled down his arm bracer, and wiped blood across his forearm. After performing the proper hand seals, he slammed his fist into the ground. A cloud of smoke and then there was Gama, clad in his fighting armor and wielding an axe.

"Gama, oil!" Naruto yelled. The toad complied, launching multiple bullets of oil at the bone shifter, but he dodged every one. '_It doesn't matter,_' Naruto thought, '_Once he is surrounded by oil, he can't dodge the fire._' Soon half of the field was covered in oil, and the white-haired teen was right in the middle of it.

Using a basic academy fire jutsu, he set it ablaze. The fire spread quickly, but the teen surprised Naruto by jumping completely over the fire, and then bringing his sword down upon him. Naruto blocked it with a kunai, but it broke. The sword continued down, slicing his shoulder. Grunting in pain, Naruto jumped back.

Kyuubi's chakra boiled just under Naruto's skin, illuminating him in a bloody red light. Naruto's wound healed as his nails lengthened. His Sharingan advanced to his icy-blue version of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto laughed, exposing his sharpened canines. He looked the white-haired teen dead in the eyes, "Let's see you beat me now." Naruto disappeared and reappeared right in front of him, punching right through his stomach and out the back. He quickly withdrew his arm and jumped away, not wanting the bone user to try launching anything at him.

Dark lines spread out from the center of the bleeding teen's chest. They covered the left half of his body, and his wound began to heal. Naruto growled, he was starting to really hate _all_ seals. They never seemed to do any good. Giving evil people demonic power, allowing main house members to kill brain cells of branch house members, containing an all-powerful fox demon that laughed at its own jokes… well you get the idea.

The bone user charged, sword held in his outstretched palm. He swung it horizontally, but it was stopped long before it ever reached Naruto. A green blur kicked the guy in the face, sending him flying back. "Konoha whirl wind!" shouted an over-excited voice.

"Lee!" Naruto shouted, his red chakra dying down a little.

Lee turned to look at Naruto, his bushy eyebrows coming together to form a great, hairy caterpillar. "Naruto-san! Is that a new jutsu?" Lee asked.

Naruto looked at him in confusion, "Is what a new jutsu?"

Lee smiled and struck a pose, "Yosh! The fires of youth burn so brightly within you that they are visible to the human eye!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, '_What was Lee talking about… oh no!_' He was using the Kyuubi's chakra. He looked down at his hands. Good, at least his physical appearance was back to normal.

"Uhh, Lee it's just chakra. I have this sort of second chakra I can use," Naruto said, it wasn't exactly a lie, even if it wasn't the whole truth.

Lee looked a little put out, but he brightened up almost immediately and exclaimed, "Then I will train until I can defeat you in battle, that way I can prove I can beat someone with two chakras and a bloodline!!"

Naruto let his red chakra slowly dissipate into nothingness. He looked over at where the bone user was. He was standing up now, and his seal had spread to cover his whole body.

He looked at the odd pair. A green-clad kid with bowl-cut hair and really bushy eyebrows, and a blonde Uchiha with advanced Sharingan eyes and whisker marks running down his cheeks. The white-haired teen took a taijutsu stance just as the barrel exploded, sending shards of wood everywhere.

Sasuke emerged from the small cloud of dust it had created. The seal had spread, and now covered the right side of his body. The white of his right eye had turned black, while the iris had turned yellow.

Sasuke looked straight at Naruto and smirked before taking off in the general direction of Sound Country. Lee looked at the bone user, "Naruto, let me defeat this guy. You go save Sasuke!"

Naruto nodded and turned to chase after Sasuke, then paused. "Lee, one last thing, that guy has the ability to create new bones, and increase their density. He can make them basically any shape, and can launch them at you. Be careful."

Naruto then sprinted after Sasuke. '_Sakura, I will keep my promise._'

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Author's Notes: I tried to write it in as few words as possible and still reach the point in the story where I wanted to stop due to my arm, (I broke my arm, if you haven't heard), so it may not be up to standard, but I couldn't keep you waiting any longer. Please review. I don't mind flames as long as you have something to base it on. Please tell me where it could have been better, and if you have any ideas. Thanks!


	7. Man I hate Irony

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews I got on the last chapter. I'm looking for a beta for my new story: Speaker for the Dead, and new staff for my C2. Enjoy the new chapter, and please forgive any grammatical errors on my part. If you see anything seriously wrong, please tell me. Special thanks to Sojourn, you were right. I hope I fixed most of the problems that you had with the last chapter.

Um, one last thing. In case some people didn't read my last author's note, I said clearly that Naruto's Sharingan has completely unique powers. Look at my profile for details on Naruto's, Itachi's, and Kakashi's unique Mangekyou Sharingan forms. And now let's move on with the story!

Disclaimer: Yes, as shocking as it is, I don't own Naruto. Now please excuse me as I go cry in a corner… no really, I'm going to.

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Where did he go? Naruto wondered to himself. Even with his Sharingan activated, the trail seemed to end here, yet Sasuke was nowhere in sight. A kunai whistled through the air just inches from Naruto's face. It hit a tree, digging deep into the bark. Drawing a kunai of his own, he turned towards the attacker.

Sasuke walked out of the shadow of a large oak. The Uchiha smirked, sending shivers down Naruto's spine. "Naruto, do you truly believe I will just come back to Konoha? That I went through all this trouble to leave, and now I'm just going to happily walk home with you?" Sasuke said these words as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "Konoha is no longer my home; it hasn't been for a long time."

"Sasuke…" Naruto's voice trailed off.

"What? Now you can't even form a full sentence? You really are the dead-last." Sasuke started walking towards him while he spoke. Something was off, Naruto could feel it. "You and Sakura are the stupidest people I have ever known. She still thinks that someday I'm going to miraculously fall for her, and you still follow her like a lapdog. Let me guess, you promised her that you would bring me back right? Right?" Sasuke demanded in a laughing tone, as if he didn't really expect an answer.

Naruto's hands subconsciously curled into fists. He could feel his temper beginning to boil now, his anger rising. Sasuke seemed to take no notice. "I knew it. You may have the Sharingan, but you aren't an Uchiha, you're the dead-last, a dope, an orphan that no one wants. You may have the blood of the Uchiha in your veins, but you were raised as an Uzumaki. Why bother to fight me, you don't stand a chance with that mutilated version of the Mangekyou." Sasuke's smirk broadened every second he spoke.

Red was starting to cloud the corners of Naruto's sight as the Kyuubi's power began to rage under his skin, waiting to be unleashed. Sasuke was only a few feet away now. The traitorous Uchiha suddenly stopped. The raven-haired teen turned his head in the direction of the Sound border. A broad smile on his lips, Sasuke turned back towards Naruto. It unnerved him, why was Sasuke smiling? Sasuke smirked sometimes, okay he smirked often, but he had never smiled.

"Sasuke has reached our border. My presence is no longer required." What did Sasuke mean? He was right here! "I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me fill you in." The Uchiha formed a single seal and was shrouded in smoke. It cleared to reveal Kabuto.

"Orochimaru didn't have much time left before he would be rejected from his current body. He sent me to make sure Sasuke got there before that happened. When Sasuke fled into the forest, I was waiting. I created a trail for you to follow, while getting rid of his. The whole time you've been following me, the whole time I've been talking to you, I have just been giving Sasuke time to reach-" Kabuto was cut off as an enraged Naruto charged.

A Chidori flared into life in his hand and struck the traitor in the stomach. Kabuto just smirked before he popped out of existence, it had been a clone. Naruto fell to his knees, he had lost, he had allowed Sasuke to be taken, he had been unable to keep his promise, and what stung the most was that it was all because he fell for a shadow clone. He fell for a shadow clone! He was tricked by one of his primary techniques!

Naruto raised his head towards the sky, it was clear. There wasn't any rain like there was in his dream, but that had only been a scenario if he had actually fought Sasuke. Tears began to well in Naruto's eyes. He hadn't even gotten that far.

"Sasuke…" Naruto was unable to finish his sentence, a lump the size of a quarter started to form in his throat, leaving him unable to talk. He began reliving what had just happened in his mind, replaying it to make sure it wasn't just some dream or his imagination.

Naruto stood, he might have a chance. He began retracing his steps. Kabuto made a mistake. He said that Sasuke had reached their 'border', but that means that he hasn't reached Orochimaru yet. Kabuto had gotten rid of the beginning of Sasuke's trail so that Naruto would be mislead and follow him, but if he could find the original trail he might have a chance of reaching Sasuke in time.

He had to at least try.

-

Quickly, Naruto scanned the grassland below him. He was on the edge of a large cliff which towered high over a grassy plain.

He was deep into Sound country, and Sasuke's trail was becoming easier to follow, as if the Uchiha figured that Naruto would have given up by now. Naruto silently thanked his eyes, it was because of his Jikoku Doutai (Translates into: Instant Movement; Naruto had decided upon a name for his teleportation technique) that he had been able to get here this fast. He jumped off the overhanging, face first, arms straight to his sides, so he could fall as fast as possible.

Channeling chakra into both his arms, he threw them forward at the last second. He hit the ground and flipped forward, landing on his feet. Sharingan eyes blazing, Naruto knelt on one knee and examined the soil. The grass was bent and some of the foliage was upturned. The trail led into a small structure at the foot of the cliffs. Naruto ran into it without hesitation.

The building was actually an entrance to a steadily sloping tunnel. There was no light of any sort, but his Sharingan allowed him to see. The dark passage slowly ascended upwards. The air was stale and tasted of soil. Dust hung in the air, only adding to the unsettling nature of the hall. Running as quickly as his feet would carry him, he tried to avoid any traps that his eyes could detect.

Soon Naruto came to a cavern that connected his tunnel to three other corridors. Which one? The ground in here was stone, so Sasuke had left no trail that he could see. If only he had Kiba's nose or Shino's bugs. Agitatedly he eyed the entrance to each corridor, trying to decipher which way was most likely to be the right one.

He gained nothing. Each appeared exactly the same, and he was running out of borrowed time! If he chose the wrong passage then he had no chance, but if he sat here waiting forever, then he would still lose. Growling, Naruto tried to look underneath the underneath, like Kakashi always said to.

There was no 'underneath!' There was just a bunch of passages. This was getting him no where! Frustrated, he pounded his fist against the floor, resulting in a hollow sound. Wait, the floor was hollow? Was something down there? Naruto's eyes brightened at this new revelation. The corridors were just there to confuse an invader, that's why there are no guards. The enemy would go down one of the passages where there was probably something nasty waiting for them.

How do I get down there though? A secret lever, a password, a hand seal? Considering I have no idea what any of those would be, that leaves me with one option. Rapidly going through the hand seals, Naruto grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and began pumping chakra into his right palm. "Chidori!" Naruto yelled as he smashed the newly formed blade of lightning into the stone tiling. The ground collapsed beneath him and Naruto fell through.

He landed on stone steps that descended further into the earth. Unlike the tunnel and the corridors, the steps were lit with torches that illuminated them the whole way down. If anyone was nearby they would have heard that, so forgetting stealth for the moment, he broke into a dead run, taking the steps four at a time.

At the bottom was a large room lit by candles. The room was bare of any furniture except for a large desk and a large rectangular box. Going over to the box first he examined it. It was huge and had a large lock on one side. What was in it? Whatever it was, it must be important to Orochimaru if it has such a large lock and is hidden in this room. Going through a quick set of seals, a kunai popped into existence. Shoving it into the wood, he stepped back and formed a single seal. "Daibakuha Bunshin!" The kunai exploded with surprising force.

The lock had been blown off and Naruto opened the lid. "WTF!?!" Naruto yelled out of surprise. In the box was Orochimaru's mostly decayed body. Judging from how much it had decomposed, it looked to have died a number of years ago. It must be Orochimaru's original body. A siren went off in the background. There must have been something in the box to set it off. He couldn't stay here; ninja would be swarming in any moment. Rushing for the door he came in through, too late. A large metal gate fell across it.

Looking around for an exit, Naruto saw gas coming from the floor. Hurriedly he tried to think of a way out. He had one. Rushing back to the box he was about to put the lid back on when he saw it, a ring on the body's finger. It looked kind of like the ones that Itachi and Kisame were wearing. Acting on instinct he reached down and pulled it off the body's rotten finger, jamming it into a pocket.

He put the lid back on and stood on the box. Summoning a Kage Bunshin, Naruto began collecting chakra into his hand. With the help of his clone it began to spin, forming a sphere. "Rasengan!" he yelled, as he pushed the spinning ball of chakra into the ceiling. Dirt and chips of stone flew in all directions as he released the chakra. The sun shone in through the newly created tunnel. It was easily twenty or so feet long, and got steadily wider the farther it got from the origin of the jutsu.

Not wasting time climbing, he channeling more chakra into his eyes, they advanced into his demonic version of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Focusing on a stop near the top of the just created tunnel, he performed Jikoku Doutai, and disappeared completely. Not one to leave with out saying goodbye, he performed a few quick hand seals, creating a Bunshin. It jumped back into the hole.

Turning his eyes towards Konoha, he used Jikoku Doutai. Moments later he heard an earsplitting explosion. Turning, he saw a cloud of smoke rising in the distance, they had destroyed his Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin, resulting in the large-scale explosion. Hopefully Orochimaru had at least been hurt in the blast, though even if the loser had been at the epicenter, it was unlikely to kill someone as powerful as a Sannin.

The trip was almost a complete waste of time. Naruto mused, as a sad frown formed on his lips. The only thing I got out of it was the pleasure of blowing up some of Orochimaru's hideout and that ring… Reaching into his pocket, he fingered it. There seemed to be some remnant of power in it, a lingering feeling, as if it was significant in some way. There was a symbol engraved into the stone atop the metal loop of the ring. Pulling it from his pocket he examined it. The jewel was red and the symbol was actually a kanji. It meant Kūchin or The Void.

He suddenly felt the urge to slip it onto his left little finger. Resisting it, he placed it back in his pocket. What was that feeling? Pushing those thoughts into the back of his mind for now he decided to run the rest of the way back to Konoha. He took off, becoming a black and yellow blur.

As soon as he was gone, the ground under where he had been standing bulged. The earth parted to reveal a huge Venus-flytrap protruding from the neck of a black set of robes with red clouds. The flytrap opened to expose a head full of short green hair. The man's pupilless golden eyes gleamed, one was churning with emotion while the other seemed almost lifeless. The right side of his face was completely black, while the left side was white. His finger and toenails were painted in purple nail polish. On his right little finger was a ring with the kanji Genbu or Tortoise, engraved in a red stone.

The strange man looked in the direction Naruto had gone. "He has our partner ring," stated the white side of his mouth in a completely emotionless voice.

The black side smiled. "Yes, he stole it from Orochimaru? Interesting," exclaimed the black side in an interested and slightly excited voice. The black side continued, this time in a slightly surprised voice. "I was able to see that he has yet to bring his eyes to their highest stage. Itachi will be interested to know that this Uchiha's eyes rival his in power, even without them being at their highest state. That was all I was able to gather with my eye, was your eye able to see his affinity?"

The white side answered in the same drawling, toneless voice as before. "Yes. Surprisingly, he already has two chakra natures, though one is still much more powerful than the other. His original and dominant nature is wind. His second nature is fire, and seems to only have been activated recently. I'm guessing that it was probably the same time his Sharingan eyes did."

The black side grinned, which looked strange upon the man, since only half his face was smiling. "Two natures already? I doubt he even knows what a chakra nature is. When he masters both of them he will be an… interesting person." Having said that, the split-personality Akatsuki sunk back into the earth.

-

Temari waited anxiously at the gates of Konoha. Her two brothers, along with Lee, and Sakura were also waiting for Naruto's return. Why do I care when or if he comes back? Temari asked herself. Is it because of what he did for my brother? Is it because he saved me from those Sound-nins? She was growing aggravated with herself. She was feeling worried for someone that she barely knew, and had no idea why. Searching for answers she tried to collect the most plausible reasons she could, yet no matter what she came up with it seemed as if she was forgetting something.

Trying to get the blond off her mind, she glanced over at Gaara. He was in one of his favorite poses: arms crossed, with an expression that said 'I can hear you, but why should I care?' Next to him was the mass of eyebrows and barely containable 'flames of youth' that was Lee. The two had arrived about half a hour ago, and though they still were far from 'best friends', it seemed that they had repaired the rift that had been created during their fight.

Shifting her gaze back towards the dirt road that lead to Konoha, Temari saw a slowly moving dot on the horizon. It grew bigger as it drew nearer. At this distance she could just make out the black outfit and a mop of bight, yellow hair. "It's Naruto!" she called out. Immediately the others looked up. She suddenly had the urge to run up and see how he had faired in the fight, if he was hurt, but she restrained herself and stayed with the rest of the group. After all, it would be embarrassing to cause a scene.

Lee was jumping with excitement and waving, while yelling something about the springtime of youth and how he knew Naruto could not be overcome. Sakura took a step forward, trying to see if Naruto was carrying anyone, or if someone was walking beside him. Soon it became clear that Naruto was alone, and Sakura seemed to deflate a little. Lee quieted and stopped jumping up and down, taking a more solemn stance. Gaara raised an eyebrow, which would be the equivalent of a normal person's jaw dropping to the floor with their eyes bulging out in surprise. Temari surmised that Gaara must have thought Naruto would be able to retrieve Sasuke without any problem.

In a matter of moments Naruto was at the gates. Feet kicking up dirt, Naruto stopped in front of his friends. His posture was one of saddened defeat; his head bowed, hands in his pockets, a frown on his lips. Temari noticed that his hair now hung in his face, he must have lost his forehead protector. A second later, Naruto continued onwards through the gates without a single glance at any of them. He spoke a single whisper, though everyone was able to hear.

"I will keep my promise."

They remained there for a few moments before leaving one by one, until only Temari and Gaara were left. Temari turning to face her brother. He was leaning against the great wall of Konoha, his eyes closed. "You thought he was going to be able to bring Sasuke back, why?"

Gaara's eyes opened, focussing on Temari. "Because he is in a whole different league than Sasuke, or any of the rookie nine for that matter. Even without his eyes, he knows an S-class kinjutsu, and multiple A and B-rank jutsu. I heard that he mastered one of the Fourth's personal jutsu. When you add in the power of his eyes then who knows how powerful he actually is."

"Then how did he lose?"

"He never got to Sasuke. Did you see his clothes? There was some dust and dirt, but no rips in the cloth. If he had lost the fight against Sasuke then his clothes would be completely destroyed. If he hadn't lost then Sasuke would be here right now. That means that Sasuke reached Orochimaru before Naruto could get him."

Temari thought back and realized that Gaara was right. Naruto seemed virtually undamaged, not a scratch on him, though he did seem to have used a significant amount of chakra. If he never reached Sasuke, then how did he use so much chakra?

"Temari, I'm going to go meet up with Lee and Kankuro for… ramen." Gaara said the last word a little strangely, as if it was the last thing he would expect himself to eat. He then turned and walked away, leaving Temari by herself.

-

Naruto was fuming. That bastard! How dare he leave! How could Sasuke, his own teammate, just run away from his village?! How could he willingly become a missing-nin? Naruto was now short of breath, his muscles aching in protest, and his chakra level was now down to a particularly unhealthy low; yet he was still tearing apart the training field he was using.

Why? Why did Sasuke leave? Was he really so stupid that he would trade his home solely for power? Angrily Naruto smashed a training log to pieces. He thought back to Orochimaru's hideout. What could he have done? An alarm had gone off. If he had stayed, a whole hidden village would have been on him.

He began going through the hand seals for Katon: Karyu Endan. He knew he didn't have enough chakra, but then again, what did it matter? It would push his limits. Taking in a deep breath, he charged it with chakra. When he exhaled, a stream of fire launched from his mouth — it hadn't even taken the shape of a dragon, and was about to go out.

No! He had to become stronger, strong enough to beat Orochimaru and bring Sasuke back. It was no use, it was going out. He had to attain more power. He needed to do this. Red chakra burst from his skin, surrounding him. The Karyu Endan tripled in size and turned white hot. Once the jutsu ended, he grabbed his neck. It had become too hot to control and had burned the inside of his throat, yet even as he held it he felt it healing. The Kyuubi's chakra rushed through him, filling his coils to overflowing.

Furiously he yelled. How could he gain power, when every time he was reaching his own limits, trying to increase his power, that idiot fox had to butt in! He didn't want its help. He needed to be able to do this for himself with his own power.

As the power began to recede back into the seal, Naruto fell to his knees exhausted. I can do more, I have to. "It isn't your chakra capacity you need to increase, it's your control." The voice came from behind him.

"Kakashi I'm not in the mood. Go away, unless you're going to teach me something that will help me defeat Orochimaru," Naruto snapped.

"Naruto, this is something that will help you become much more powerful. You need to understand that if you can't control the amount of chakra you have now, then if you try to control more chakra, your control will only get worse. You should work on increasing you chakra pool when you can control your chakra at a much higher level."

Naruto turned to face his sensei. Surprisingly, the lazy Hatake wasn't reading his perverted novels. In fact, his book wasn't even in sight. Sighing Naruto resigned. "Fine, oh great and powerful Copycat pervert. Enlighten me with your immense knowledge. What should I be doing for chakra control?"

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Well you should start with what you know. From what I have heard, you were taught chakra controlling exercises by both Jiraiya and Shizune. Work on those for a while, but until then, here." Kakashi threw a scroll at Naruto.

"That was written by the Third. It's the first in a series of four scrolls that go in depth on Juin and Fuin jutsus. I myself have only the first two. They are hard to comprehend, but should give you some insight on Orochimaru's cursed seal. Since you have only a little chakra left from what the Kyuubi loaned you, I would advise you to start reading before working on your control. If you activate your Sharingan it might help, but only to its lowest level. Any higher and you will waste your chakra." Kakashi gave a quick wave before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto scrutinized the scroll. It was larger than the forbidden scroll, and a lot heavier. Sitting down cross-legged, Naruto unrolled it on the grass. Naruto closed his eyes, charging them with a small amount of chakra. When he opened them the irises had darkened a few shades, and his pupil had gone white, but aside from that, nothing had changed. This was the weakest form of the Sharingan. It had no tomoe, and he had noticed that Uchiha Itachi seemed to keep it active constantly.

The first three sections of the scroll only described the difference between Fuin and Juin jutsus, which was easy enough to understand. Then it began to describe the basic ABCs of seals. Then it took over twenty-three sections to give a brief description of what the first symbol meant, and how it would affect the seal depending on where it was placed and what other symbols were with it.

Already he had a headache. It was like trying to learn how to write in a language he didn't speak. By the time he finished reading about two of the symbols, his chakra had completely replenished and he had read over fifty sections, yet when he looked at how much more he had to go it seemed as if he had made no progress.

Rising to his feet, he stretched. Time to go work on my control. Picking up the large scroll, he started walking in the general direction of a river he new was nearby. He could read more while he sat on the water, and maybe he could do a few other exercises at the same time.

Naruto navigated his way through the streets. They were bare and lifeless. The windows of the buildings he walked by were dark and empty. No one lived here anymore. He was the only Uchiha still in Konoha. He couldn't help but wonder why the villagers kept this part of Konoha clean, yet no one moved in. We have a shortage of houses, yet the Uchiha compound is a pretty large portion of our village, and only I live here. He shook his head. Did they think that Uchiha would start popping from the ground like corn? That they would swarm in and take back their homes? He was the only one of his clan who wasn't dead that still inhabited Konoha, so unless he had a lot of children, there wasn't much hope for the Uchiha.

-

Thump

Thump

Thump

That was the sound of Temari's feet as they dangled off the edge of the bridge, bumping against the wood. She was sitting on the rail of an old wooden bridge. It connected the banks of the fairly large river that rushed beneath her. Her fan lay on the ground next to her, just within her reach, incase she needed it. The wind blew over the water, causing her to shiver. It was so cold. How could these people stand it? Of course, it might have helped if she had worn warmer clothes, but she didn't have any since she was use to the desert climate.

She had been sitting here for hours, and it was becoming increasingly boring. Groaning inwardly, she began to wish she had gone for ramen with her brothers. Maybe she could find them if she left now. She shivered again as another strong gust of wind blew past. That settled it, she was going to buy a jacket.

"Temari, what are you doing here?" Turning, she saw a mop of blond hair and bright blue eyes. She shifted her gaze back to the flowing river. A leaf spiraled through the water, barely staying atop the current.

"It looked like a quiet enough place to sit and think, but it's getting boring," Temari answered. She blushed as Naruto walked over and sat down next to her. He let his legs hang over the edge and laid a huge scroll on the ground next to him. Temari eyed the scroll for a moment. What could be in such a large scroll? A collection of family jutsu? Maybe he was writing in it, recording his own personal jutsu for the next generation.

It took Naruto speaking to snap her out of the train of thoughts the scroll had put her on. "Kakashi says I should work on my chakra control. You want to work with me?"

Temari raised her eyes to his face. He was staring up at the sky. Following his gaze, she looked up. A cloud that had been obscuring the sun started rolling across the sky, exposing the warm rays. She looked back down towards the river. "What kind of exercise is it?"

"Well, I have decided to try a bunch of things at once. I was thinking about combining the water walking exercise with the kunai hovering exercise," Naruto said in an energetic voice.

Kunai hovering? Temari had never heard of that training exercise before. She mentally pictured herself hovering above a kunai. "Um, Naruto. I don't think I know the 'kunai hovering exercise'," Temari said a bit hesitantly. She mentally groaned. I must seem like and idiot.

Naruto seemed a little startled, and then he grinned. "Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. That's a medic exercise that very few people know, Shizune taught it to me. What you do is, take a kunai and place the blunt handle against the palm of your hand. You push chakra out in a spiraling motion, and the kunai should hover a few inches. If you use too much it will spin off dangerously. Believe me, I know. If you don't use enough, then nothing will happen." Naruto finished with another one of his famous foxy grins.

"Oh yeah, you can start out with a leaf or a piece of grass if you want. A kunai is the hardest to do because it's heavier, and the shape is strange," Naruto added to his brief description. He stood up, holding out his hand to Temari. She thought about getting up without by herself, like the last time he offer to help her up, but instead, grasped his hand. It was warm and rough, but gentle. Naruto seemed to pull her up with relative ease, and she felt her cheeks growing hot again.

Why? Why did she start blushing when he touched her? It made no sense. She had never blushed in her life, and here she was blushing like crazy, simply because he grabbed her hand. "Temari, you can let go now," Naruto said a bit confused.

She let go of his hand so quickly she barely saw it move from his grasp to her side. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She had been so caught up with wondering why she was blushing she hadn't let go of his hand! Taking a step back, she saw her fan lying innocently where she had left it. She picked it up and held it in front of her with both hands, much like someone might carry a book.

Looking back up at Naruto, she saw he was staring at her, and not her face. He was looking down at her waist. She started blushing again until Naruto looked back up, a frown on his face. "Temari, how does your fan work?" She instantly realized that he had been looking at her fan and not her waist, but instead of being relieved, she was a little put out. For some reason she had liked the idea that Naruto was checking her out.

"My fan? It's a secret taijutsu form utilizing wind. Beyond that, I'm not suppose to tell anyone, especially someone who has the unique ability to copy any jutsu they see. Why do you want to know?" Temari ventured.

"Well, when you were fighting with Shikamaru, I was able to copy his jutsu, but I was unable to copy yours. I couldn't see any chakra in the wind you where using, and wondered how you could do that without chakra," Naruto replied. He suddenly brightened, "I know, what if I teach you a powerful jutsu in exchange?"

Temari thought about it. The village elders would like to know some of Konoha's jutsus, but not at that kind of cost. "Sorry Naruto, but one jutsu for a whole taijutsu form? I would get in trouble."

Surprisingly this didn't cause the boy to lose his smile. In fact, his grin looked like it got bigger, if that was possible. "Okay. How about I give you a B to A-rank Katon scroll?" This shocked her. He would give her a scroll with nothing but high Jounin-level Katon jutsus so he could learn how to throw wind?

"Naruto, it's more than a fair trade, but I don't know if you can even do it," Temari said truthfully. She wasn't very good with Katon, it wasn't her chakra nature, but even so, the village elders would like to gain some Katon jutsus, especially some of Konoha's A or B-rank ones.

"Let me try anyway. Even if I can't do it, I'll still give you the scroll," Naruto added to sweeten the deal. Temari couldn't help but feel like she was ripping him off. After all, she had been training since she was five in order to master her chakra nature to the extent she had, and she still hadn't completely mastered it.

"Okay, but one condition. You have to find out if you have wind chakra nature, and if you don't have it, then no deal."

-

Author's Note: Sorry if that was a bad place to stop, but I couldn't think of a good place, so thought I might as well stop there. Here is my brief description on chakra nature, not sure if it's right, but that's how it's going to work in this story.

Chakra nature is the element that your chakra can be used the best with. Also, if you master your chakra nature, than you can perform jutsu related to that chakra with no or one-handed seals. You can also convert your chakra into that element, like Temari with her wind. It is no longer chakra, but it is the element. Also, a person with one chakra nature will still be able to use jutsus for the other elements; it would just take a lot more chakra and medic like control (and they can just use the jutsus, they can't convert their chakra into that element). Many higher-level ninja (like a Jounin or Kage) have more than one chakra nature, but it is unusual for anyone weaker to.

If you guys don't like my explanation or have questions, then tell me. I went back and changed it so Naruto had three weeks of training instead of three days before the final part of the Chuunin exam. I also changed the exercise that Jiraiya gave Naruto in the first chapter. Thanks for all the reviews I got for chapter 6! One more thing, can anyone guess what abilities Zetsu's (the flytrap Akatsuki) eyes have?


	8. Caught in the shower

**Author's note**: Hello everyone, I would like to thank all of those that reviewed in the last chapter, it may sound shallow, but I like a lot of reviews - it means people are reading my work and actually enjoy it. I also want give a SPECIAL thanks to my beta - because my grammar is a mess, but I like to think that it is getting better… hopefully.

Oh, I had a few readers complaining about Naruto giving a high-level scroll to the Sand so easily, and someone was wondering if he was going to get in trouble. He won't, since it is a family scroll, and he owns it. I had to make it a convincing reason for a ninja to teach someone from another village a high-class technique such as mastering a chakra nature.

Anyway, on with the chapter, err, well first, here is a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, more's the pity.

* * *

Chapter 8

A large wooden statue rose from the middle of the stone room. It portrayed a humanoid beast, eyes blindfolded, a bit placed in its mouth, and wrists chained. On the creature's blindfold were nine closed eyes, eight of them were in two rows of four, with a larger ninth eye in the center. Its hands were held in front of it, palms facing inwards, fingers stretching towards the heavens. Torches lit the room, casting long shadows on the figure, giving it an even more frightening appearance.

A young man sat in a large chair that faced the statue, his fingers tapping impatiently on the armrest. His short, wild, blond hair hung down, obscuring his dark red eyes. Four dots were tattooed on the bridge of his nose, two on either side. The black trench coat he wore was opened, exposing some kind of seals that ran across the entirety of his chest and stomach. Similar markings wove themselves around his fingers and the palms of his hands. An air of power hung about him, more frightening than any killing intent; not because it was meant to be scary, but because of how much raw energy could be sensed coming from the young man - when it was obvious he was holding back much more than he was revealing. After all, he was the leader of the most powerful organization in the known world.

The blond suddenly tensed, and turned, his eyes glaring at the ground in front of him. A mere second passed before the earth bulged upwards. Slowly the dirt and stone fell away, revealing a green-haired man. His skin was his most defining feature, with the left side of his body colored black and the other white. The earth he had come out of rippled once, like water, before going back to its original state, as if he had never come out of it.

The Akatsuki leader glanced once at his informant, Zetsu, before his eyes then drifted, looking around the whole room, as if expecting something to happen. When nothing did, he turned back to Zetsu, frowning. "Where's Shikyo?"

"When I told her that you ordered her return she said you could find her in the Hidden Leaf. I assume her business there has something to do with Uchiha Naruto," the black side of Zetsu's mouth told his leader, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement.

The blond scowled, sinking back into his chair. "It's just like her to disobey direct orders, I mean, she could at least send over an astral version of herself! Why is she always so stubborn?" the now exasperated blond wondered aloud.

The black side of Zetsu's face grinned, exposing his sharp canines. "Well, she is one of our younger members, and the only female, so I guess she is the hardest one to figure out."

The blond gave a short laugh, a smile playing across his lips. "You do have a point there." Becoming serious once more he decided now was as good a time as ever to find out what other pieces of information Zetsu had gathered "So, what did you find out about our favorite little Uchiha?"

The white side of Zetsu's mouth spoke this time, in an almost robotic voice, devoid of emotion, "His eyes are powerful enough to resist Itachi's Tsukuyomi, but the amount of control he currently has would cause him to use five or six times as much chakra as is necessary, which would leave him either extremely low on chakra or passed out from exhaustion. Also, he still has only brought out one of the eyes' abilities. The one ability his eyes currently have gives him a powerful tai-jutsu advantage that, over time, could become an immensely powerful fighting style. There is no doubt that without training he still lacks the tai-jutsu skills that even the weakest of the Akatsuki possess.

"His jutsu collection is large for his age, even for an Uchiha, and consists of multiple B, A, and even S-class nin-jutsu, and surprisingly he has two chakra natures already: wind and fire; though he has not started mastering either of them to my current knowledge."

As Zetsu finished, the blond sank further into his chair, his eyes becoming unfocused as he receded into deep thought - trying to figure out what could have caused the second nature. There was only one explanation that made any sense at all, "It seems as if the Kyuubi had a few more unexpected side effects on Naruto's body than even I was able to predict…" the blond leader mumbled under his breath.

Zetsu spoke up again, this time the black side speaking, "He also stole Orochimaru's ring. We sensed it on his person as he walked over us."

Sitting back up in his chair he raised an eyebrow, "Watch him, gather as much information on his daily schedule as you can. Oh, and one more thing, try to make sure Shikyo doesn't do something too stupid." With those words, Zetsu sunk back into the ground.

The blond's eyes glazed over for a moment, as he pondered over this new equation Naruto had added into the mix. "Orochimaru…what will you do now?"

* * *

Naruto stared at the blond girl now in front of him, confused, then looked back down at the rectangular piece of paper in his hand. "Uhhh, Temari, how can a piece of paper help you figure out what type of chakra nature I have?"

Temari sighed and glared at the Uchiha. The damned card had been hard enough to come by, taking her an hour of searching before she was able to find it in that damned maze Konoha called a village, and now he was wasting more time asking questions! Looking into his impatient blue eyes she began explaining.

"You just flow your chakra into the card. It reacts differently to each of the five chakra types. It will burn if fire, crumple if lightning, turn to dust if earth, turn wet if water, and split if wind." Once Temari finished Naruto frowned. She was starting to sound like something out of an encyclopedia…

Looking down at the paper in defeat, Naruto began to flow his chakra into it. A moment later it split down the middle, before both haves simultaneously burst into flames. Dropping it in surprise, he took a step back. Unsure of what it meant, he sent a questioning glance towards Temari.

Temari thought for a moment, surprise evident on her face. She had never heard of anyone who had two chakra natures who hadn't gone through rigorous training to gain the second. Only higher-level ninja like a Jounin or Kage had more than one. So how could Naruto, someone who had just started learning about chakra natures, already have two? It made no sense, but there was no other explanation. "I can't think of any reason for the paper to react that way, unless you have affinities for both wind and fire."

Naruto grinned at Temari and shoved his hands in his pockets, "Well, I guess I'm just naturally gifted" Naruto exclaimed jokingly. "So, now that that's out of the way, I guess we should start my training."

Temari composed herself quickly, still a little shocked at Naruto having two natures, bringing her mind back to the matter at hand. "Well in the Sand there is this special plant that grows really easily in the desert because it doesn't need much water. Unfortunately, it isn't edible, so it was always used for chakra-mastering techniques like this one. You see, the first step is cutting its leaf in half with your chakra, but since you guys don't grow the same plant here, you'll just have to use a normal leaf."

Naruto nodded and walked over to a small tree. He jumped into the air to grab a fist full of leaves, then landed back on the ground. Taking a single leaf out of the pile, he walked back over to Temari. "So how do I cut it?"

"Well, it's basic wind nature manipulation. What you have to do is split your chakra in two and then bring the parts back together to form a tight edge. The tighter and more compact you can make the edge, the sharper the chakra becomes," Temari replied. She watched as he sat down on the grass, a single leaf in the palm of his hand. As she looked at him sitting there with his eyes closed, her eyes began to wander down, examining his clothes. They were the same black clothes he had worn to the Third's funeral, was he still morning? He wore a pair of black sandles instead of the newer sneakers that the west had been manufacturing - which she considered to be inferior. After all, they weren't meant to stand up against the harsh training of a shinobi. Looking back at his face, the three black whisker marks on either sides drew her attention. The black lines were perfectly symmetrical, and she silently wondered if they were tattoos or if he drew them on.

She could feel the beginnings of a blush creeping across her face as she sat there not even a foot from Naruto. Some, inappropriate, thoughts started flashing through her mind, and her breathing grew a little quicker. Slowly she began to draw closer to him, only inches from his face. Now she was almost touching him, only a little more… wait. What was she doing? Drawing back, she closed her eyes, wondering at what she had been doing. A little surprised at herself, she realized that she had been about to kiss him. Trying to push these thoughts out of her mind, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When her eyes opened again she looked back at Naruto. This time she tried to read his expression. His eyebrows were drawn together in concentration, and she could actually see the chakra radiating from the palm of his hand. It completely engulfed the leaf he held, looking almost like blue transparent smoke as wisps of it wrapped around his fingers or fell away into the air. How could his chakra be visible? Only high power techniques like the Rasengan or medical jutsu used enough chakra to make it visible. How could he be using that much chakra?

The leaf began to singe around the edges, before it burst into flames. Naruto's eyes shot opened, and he yelped in surprise as the flames burned his hand. He quickly dropped the leaf on the ground, where it started curling in before becoming nothing but ash. Temari jumped to her feet and grabbed his hand; a nasty burn was now imprinted on his skin where the leaf had been, but even as she watched, it began to heal - the mark of the burn receding, growing smaller and smaller until there wasn't a mark left.

Her eyes wide, she looked up at his face and their eyes locked. He met her gaze for only a moment before he cast his eyes down. "How did you do that?" Temari asked, her voice full of wonder. He hadn't even made a single hand seal, and now it was like new skin.

"Its just something that I've been able to do for as long as I can remember," Naruto replied, his voice quiet. "My injuries always healed fast - never lasting more than a day if I slept, but ever since I activated my Sharingan it has gotten faster. I can literally watch my wounds heal: cuts, bruises, burns…" he trailed off, almost as if he was ashamed.

Temari frowned. Why won't he look at me? Does he feel guilty for something? "Naruto, what's wrong?" He remained silent, his face downcast. "Naruto?" she said his name questioningly, he was starting to make her worried. He looked sad, almost dead, but only a moment ago he was happy. What had caused the sudden change?

Naruto resisted the urge to pull away from her. He realized it now; the seal was weaker, a lot weaker. He didn't even have to go to sleep or borrow chakra for the demon to heal him that quickly, and he had two chakra natures, something Temari said never happened unless you trained for it. It must be an effect of the demon's chakra mixing with his own that gave him the second nature. If the seal broke then everyone he cared about, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Iruka… Temari, and everyone else in the village would all die.

He felt something warm grab his hand, looking over he saw Temari's fingers intertwining with his own. The sensation sent goose bumps running up and down his arm. She squeezing it firmly, "Naruto say something."

Naruto turned to her, and looked at her eyes. They were sad, almost pleading. Forgetting the Kyuubi and the weakening seal for a moment he felt a blush creeping across his cheeks. "Don't worry Temari, I was just thinking about something," Naruto said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She nodded silently, her heart skipping a beat as she realized that she was holding his hand. Temari looked down at the green grass of the training field and brought her other hand up to her cheek, she was blushing again. Why was she blushing? She was just holding his hand after all, it's not like it was anything really romantic, so why was her heart beating like crazy? Looking back up at Naruto she saw that he was blushing too. Was he embarrassed to hold her hand, or, could he possibly like her?

Naruto leaned in, his lips brushing against her forehead, as he drew back he whispered something almost too quietly for her to hear, "Thank you."

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, like it always did when he used more chakra than he should. He stared up at his white ceiling, not wanting to move. Finally he gave up trying to get back to sleep and slowly got into the sitting position. He yawned while groggily rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

As he stretched, he thought back to yesterday's events. He kissed Temari (even if it was on the forehead, it was still a kiss, at least he considered it one), and she didn't hit him - which was a big plus. After the kiss it had been awkward for a few moments, until they had gotten back on track and he started practicing again, but he had made little to no progress at all.

Thinking back to Temari's description of how to master the first step, he ran his fingers through his hair, 'It's basic wind nature manipulation. What you have to do is split your chakra in two and then bring the parts back together to form a tight edge. The tighter and more compact you can make the edge, the sharper the chakra becomes.' Naruto groaned and dropped his hands into his lap. He had barely been able to split his chakra without loosing control and it falling apart.

Stumbling to his feet, in nothing but orange boxers, he grabbed a towel and hung it over his shoulder. Still half asleep, he pushing his door open and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Water was running in the background, but Naruto failed to notice.

Grabbing the bathroom doorknob he opened the door and walked in, a wall of hot air hit him. A small pile of clothes lay on the tiles not far from him in the corner. Hearing the sound of the shower running for the first time, he realized what had just happened.

He had just walked in on Temari taking a shower.

Turning quickly to get out as fast as he could, he caught a full view of a completely naked Temari. Through the glass door he could see her washing her hair, eyes closed. His jaw dropped as she turned a little and gave him a full frontal view, soap running down her skin. Using his hand to hold back a bloody nose, he quietly crept out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Naruto stood there for a few moments, his heart beating fast enough to give a rabbit a run for its money. Leaning his back against the door he tried to calm down, but the image of Temari naked was stuck in his head, and he couldn't shake it. The very thought had him losing control of certain body parts.

He heard the water turn off and Temari getting out of the shower. Stepping away from the door he leaned against the wall instead and waited. The door opened and Temari walked out, water dripping from her hair and only a wet towel wrapped around her. She saw him and froze.

Only then did Naruto realize he was still in his boxers.

Temari couldn't tear her eyes away. Naruto was standing in front of her, with nothing but a pair of orange boxers on? She didn't know whether she should be embarrassed or laugh. Walking slowly, she tried not to blush as she saw a slight bulge in his pants, he was excited? Remembering she was in nothing but a small, wet towel she realized why. Blushing, she slowly made her way past him and down the hallway to her room.

Naruto gulped, she had been the first real girl he had ever seen naked, let alone in the shower. Making his way to the bathroom he closed the door. He turned the water on, then pulled off his boxers before climbing into the shower. The image of nude-Temari was still stuck in his head. "They're huge…" he mumbled to himself, eyes wide. Temari was, well developed, at least for her age.

Finishing his shower, he climbed out and grabbed his towel. Drying off before wrapping it around his waist, he exiting the bathroom. Reaching his door, he walked in and dropped his towel before pulling on clean underwear and black pants.

"Wow, you really are quite the looker…" came a feminine voice from behind him.

* * *

Yakushi Kabuto was not a man who grew anxious easily, but his uneven pace and the hesitation in his steps was proof enough that the medic was dreading what lay at the end of this long hallway. His heart rate was slightly above normal and sweat was beading underneath the cloth of his forehead protector. The nineteen-year old Sound-nin was afraid, very afraid. Then again, considering his destination and the news he bore, fear wasn't just appropriate, it was expected.

A dark hardwood door loomed in front of him - it lead to Orochimaru's chambers. Hiding his fear the best he could, he raised his gloved fist to knock, even though the snake-like man had surely sensed his chakra signature already.

"Enter," came the deep voice through the heavy wooden door. Slowly Kabuto swung the door open, and walked in, before kneeling on the stone floor in front of the Sannin.

"Orochimaru-sama," he spoke in a quiet, but steady voice.

A heavily bandaged young man was sprawled lazily in a chair. His right hand was absently playing with a kunai, fingering its blade. "Kabuto… you failed to bring him in time," came Orochimaru's low voice.

Kabuto stood up, looking into his master's serpentine eyes. "I apologize, Orochimaru-sama, but before Sasuke could reach your chambers there was a large explosion, it destroyed at least a fourth of the village and collapsed all the routes to you from where we were. I suspect…" the former medic-nin momentarily paused his report, before continuing in a slightly quieter voice, "…it was caused by Naruto's Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin."

The Snake Sannin tightened his grip on the kunai as he resisted the urge to slice Kabuto into such little pieces that even the grey-haired medic's regeneration technique wouldn't work. He cursed mentally as his thoughts turned back to that damn Kyuubi child. He had seen the potential in that Gennin when Naruto defeated Kabuto. He realized for the first time that the boy would become an annoyance, a big one, maybe even a threat. If only those idiot teammates of his hadn't intervened, then the boy would already be dead! Who knew how powerful that child would become now - with the Rasengan, advanced Sharingan, and multiple other techniques the boy had displayed?

Kabuto spoke again, "Your old body was caught in the blast, but the chakra-enforced coffin stopped it from being destroyed, but Orochimaru-sama, the lock was broken, and… your ring is gone."

A kunai whipped through the air - right over Kabuto's head. A few strands of grey hair floated down slowly, gleaming in the flickering candle light of the room. Orochimaru's right arm was raised, the kunai he had been playing with now gone. Kabuto forced a lump down his throat, he hadn't even been able to sense his master's movements, let alone dodge that kunai. If it had been a few inches lower…

"Kabuto, that ring is the only reason the Akatsuki haven't tried to kill me, and now it is gone, presumably in the hands of a thirteen-year-old child? That lock was chakra-enforced metal, and had a three layer seal on it. How could a kid have destroyed it? Even that Jaibaku Daibakuha Bunshin shouldn't have broken the lock," spat Orochimaru vehemently, his voice more of a hiss now than anything else.

Kabuto lowered his gaze, and absentmindedly began fingering the corner of his shirt. Trying to keep his voice steady he spoke slowly, "The seals you placed on the lock needed to be renewed, and were growing weaker everyday. We, um I mean, I, was too caught up in trying to retrieve Sasuke to notice, or remember that they needed to be redone."

The Sannin's eyes flashed dangerously, his left hand gripping the arm of his chair until it shattered - the stone crumbling to pieces under his steely grasp. "Kabuto… I want that ring."

The grey-haired Jounin nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Eh, sorry for the late, and considerably short, chapter. Life decided to be a bastard and things got messy. In other words, my parents messed with my computer and 'accidentally' deleted my folders. This included the bulk of the writing on this chapter and most of chapter two of Speaker for the Dead. Since then I have been busily trying to remember everything I wrote down and how far I had taken the plot. Sucks. Anyway, hope this quenched some of your thirst for Naruto/Temari moments. Please REVIEW, reviews are like my coke… except I don't sniff them… really, I don't. lol.

* * *


	9. God, I hate headaches

Author's note:

**Author's note**: Here it is. FINALLY. Between school and my parents I haven't had much time to write. Sorry! I finally figured I should hurry up and finish it when I realized I hadn't updated my story for many, many, MANY months. Anyways, if you guys ever want to know if I'm still alive or not, go look at my profile. Near the bottom I post a date telling when I last updated it. I put it there for the sole purpose of letting people know I'm still alive and breathing. I usually update it every 1 to 2 months unless something comes up.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. Mores the pity.

_Italicized _– for emphasis

**Bold **– demon or god talking

* * *

Chapter 9

"Wow, you really are quite the looker…"

Naruto froze. Someone was in his room. A girl, by the sound of her voice. She was right behind him, but even now he couldn't sense her presence. How long had she been in his house? How long had she been watching him? Who was she? An assassin? ANBU?

"Who are you?" Naruto asked loudly, his back still to her. His left hand slowly played down towards his kunai pouch while his other gripped the stone that hung around his neck ever more tightly.

"For now, you can call me Shikyo. Your Naruto-kun I presume?"

Naruto gritted his teeth. She used an honorific unrelated to rank or prestige, which ruled out most ANBU. She could still be an assassin; many of them gained a sort of perverse-pleasure from messing with the minds of there victims.

Frustrated, he flexed his left hand impatiently, then, in a single deft movement his hand deluged into the roughly hewn pouch on the leg of his pants. His fingers met the reassuring feel of cold metal brush against them, the handle of a kunai. Grasping it tightly he spun, arm reeling around in an underhanded swing.

The girl, Skikyo, caught it. Her slim fingers curled around the glinting metal of its handle. She frowned at it before she slung it aside, its harsh edge biting deep into the hard wood wall of his room. Her eyes shifted over to him, burning purple embers that shone with a surreal light emanating from their depths.

"You're attacking me now?" She asked, slipping off of the edge of his open window. Her long blue hair glistened around her shoulders. A Hidden Sound forehead protector hung about her neck, the symbol scratched out. A worn leather strap diagonally hung across her torso with what seemed to be seven bells fastened into it, ranging from the size of his thumb to that of his fist. She was wearing large, black trench coat sporting red clouds that was open enough to show a tight black tank top and shorts. He relaxed. The girl was an Akatsuki.

_I thought they were done bugging me for now?_

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked offhandedly. He turned around and grabbed a black t-shirt, pulling it on.

"A source told me that there was an explosion in Orochimaru's base, a rather large one at that. I was just wondering if you had anything to do with it."

Naruto flinched when she spoke Orochimaru's name. A looming sense of dread filled him as the unwanted whispering of doubts crept into his head. What if he couldn't become powerful enough to save Sasuke? Did he have enough time? Was it even possible…?

"He was becoming a bother, someone had to do something." Naruto said quietly, jaw clenching with withheld emotions. Walking over to his desk he grabbed the scroll Kakashi had given him, slipping it into a strap secured on his back.

"A bother? Orochimaru? Ha! That snake's a fucking bastard!"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something when sharp pain erupted in the back of his eyes. He stumbled back and his world disappeared, colors shifting, blending and changing until he was in a familiar place, the Hokage's office.

Jiraiya stood at the end of what was left of a wooden desk. Tsunade was across from the old man, anger etched in her features. Her fist was still quivering with adrenaline.

"If you don't train him then he won't stand a chance against them!" Tsunade yelled.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I can't let him waste his life trying to accomplish something that's never going to happen." He said evenly, meeting Tsunade's boiling glare.

Naruto had no idea what was going on. His heart was pounding in his head like a jackhammer and his head spun so violently that his gut felt like it was being turned inside out. Shikyo was asking him what was wrong, but her voice seemed far away. It was almost as if he was in two places at once, or rather, one place looking in on another.

"This isn't even about Naruto is it? This about the mistakes you made! You're afraid that Naruto is going to wind up like you, spending his whole life chasing a former teammate to hell and back trying to save him."

Jiraiya frowned. Naruto could tell he was avoiding looking Tsunade in the eye. "I can't let the past repeat itself with this old endless cycle. It's like Konoha has been cursed. All the way back too Madara and the First…"

For the first time Naruto was able to see a look of understanding in Tsunade's eyes.

"Jiraiya…this is different. The circumstances are-"

Naruto felt a jolt of pain in his lower abdomen and his focus on the room lessen. Everything was starting to blur. He tried to block out the pain; he HAD to see the end of this conversation.

"Exactly the same?" Jiraiya said, cutting her off. "Sasuke and Orochimaru are very much alike; don't try to deny it Tsunade!" Jiraiya said, he was almost yelling now. "They both have this unquenchable hunger for power! It doesn't matter that it's for different reasons because the outcome is the same! Neither of them could ever, or will ever, be convinced to change their ways, even by their best and closest friends."

Jiraiya was close, so close, to Tsunade now. He stretched out his arm, his hand grabbing hers. His eyes stared into hers, searching for understanding. "Tsunade, what have I accomplished in this life? Absolutely nothing. I lost my closest friend, my teammate. I lost my students and my teacher. Ha! I never even had you to lose in the first place!

"I can't let him repeat my mistakes. He still has a chance, don't you see? He can still live his life free from all the mistakes I made in mine." Jiraiya paused for but a moment, his eyes looking in to Tsunade's for something, any sign to show she understood what he was doing.

"I promise you that I will protect Naruto with my very life. " His voice was hushed now, from shame or from sadness Naruto was sure. "I'm his godfather for heaven's sake. I just can't become an asset to his search for Sasuke. I can't take seeing it happen again, let alone to his son."

Tsunade's breath hitched as she tried to hold back tears that were threatening to fall.

"I-I'll have to have ANBU with him at every second of the day, you know that right? He wont be able to leave the village with anyone besides you or myself, no one else would be powerful enough to protect him from his enemies and those of his father. I don't think that-"

Naruto's focus broke. The image disappeared. He was back in his room with Shikyo's face mere inches away from his. He stumbled back in surprise, almost falling over his own feet in the process. He brought his hands to his face. They were trembling from fatigue. How had he gotten so tired? It was almost as if he had been training all day.

"What happened? You were zoned out or something." Shikyo asked, looking worried.

"I-I'm not sure." Naruto whispered more to himself than to her.

"What do you-"?

"Never mind." Naruto said a little louder than necessary. His head hurt, badly. Rubbing his temples he ran over what he had seen over and over again. It was all so weird. How could he see something that was happening so far away…? Could it actually have been real, or was it some kind of trick? An illusion?

Shikyo frowned in annoyance. "Why can't you tell me?"

Naruto grimaced, and he felt an unexplainable anger rising in him. His face set into a twisted rage he lost control and it burst out. "Because I just met you! Who that FUCK do you think you are! You people have no right - NO RIGHT - to be barging into my life like this! I-"

The door to his room slammed open and Temari came running in. Before Naruto had time to realize what she was doing it was to late. Sliding her feet across the floor she was already halfway through a crescent-shaped swing of her fan before Naruto was even moving.

Naruto had no idea what Shikyo's abilities were, and if she attacked Temari chances were she would die. That left him with one option. Get Temari and get the fuck out.

Better safe than sorry, right?

Temari finished her attack, and a volley of slicing winds flung themselves at Shikyo. In an act of pure speed Shikyo disappeared. The blades of wind smashed into the wall. Dust, dirt, and chunks of rock and wood was sent flying from the point of impact.

Shielding his face with one arm he grabbed Temari's wrist with the other. Turning his head, Naruto focused chakra into his eyes to form a swirling Mangekyou. His head spun around, eyes desperately searching for a way out. It was no use. He couldn't teleport in here; there was still too much debris in the air. In that moment several things happened at once: a loud hissing sounds assaulted his ears, accompanied by a strange sense of dizziness that made his stomach lurch, a scream of anger came from somewhere in the room and mass of white snakes erupted out of the cloud of dust and ruble.

Time slowed for Naruto. Adrenaline rushed through his veins and his body acted on its own. It was over before he knew what was happening. He was in front of Temari, the snakes smashed into his back, and he was sent colliding into her. They crashing into the wall and he wrapped his arms around her to protect her from the impact. He could feel the hundreds of elongated fangs sink deep into his flesh. He heard a wretched scream of pain and it took a moment for him to realize it was his.

He tried to move, but he had lost control of all motor functions. His head lolled forward to rest against Temari's, and he found himself gazing into her eyes. Her fear and confusion shone through her amazingly blue eyes. _You're going to die_. He accepted the idea with surprising ease. _She is going to kill you and you can't even defend yourself. _He was slipping away, losing consciousness.

"NARUTO!"

That voice. _Temari…TEMARI!_ Without realizing what he was doing he focused chakra into his eyes.

Grass grew untamed around two mounds of earth. The sun reflected off a monstrously huge knife-like butcher blade, which stabbed into the larger of the two mounds. They were graves, graves that he had dug himself just a matter of months ago. It had been the first time he had encountered death on a mission. The burial site of Zabuza and Haku.

He could hear Temari yelling at him, but her voice seemed a distant background noise. _I hope this works_. Using the last of his chakra Naruto tried desperately to activate his Jikoku Doutai.

He felt the familiar feeling of his body losing definition and then it was over. His eyes slowly came to focus and he realized he was lying on his back in the grass. Temari was on top of him clutching at his shirt. Tears streamed down her face and he could hear her screaming his name over and over, but he just couldn't answer. He was just too tired.

So…tired…

Blackness consumed his world.

* * *

"Sosabo." The nuke-sound-nin whispered. She raised her head, looking her former subordinate in the eye. "Still working for Orochimaru I see."

'Sosabo', a pale skinned teen, stood in front of her. White snakes sprouted from the skin of his upturned palm. They slowly receded back into his flesh, until just the slightest bump remained.

"You can kill me now, it makes no difference. My mission was successful." Sosabo said in strangely calm voice.

Shikyo's left hand rose to the smallest of her bells, removing it from its harness. She swung her arm and the tiny bell rang with a sound far to deep for something to small. Sosabo stumbled to his knees, hands over his ears. It didn't matter; it was impossible to block the sound of one of her bells. Succumb to the gen jutsu, Sosabo fell to the floor unconscious.

"Ah, your not going to kill him, are you?" Shikyo didn't have to turn around to no it was Zetsu speaking

"It's not so simple Zetsu. He was a student of mine before I left. A friend." Shikyo said, her voice not revealing the heavy sadness pressing down on her. _I thought you were dead Sosabo…_ Closing her eyes she strapped the bell back into its harness, holding the clapper to stop it from ringing.

"Why send him? In a one on one battle Naruto would have been able to pick Sosabo apart. If Orochimaru wanted Naruto dead-"

"I don't think he does." Zetsu interrupted. "He has realized that even the Leader lacks the ability to remove the Kyuubi from the Fourth's seal, at least for now. He sent Sosabo to watch and wait until the opportune moment, and now that little boy has pitted the Naruto against us. Orochimaru hopes to stall, to keep us from gaining the Kyuubi's power until he gains the Sharingan."

Shikyo frowned. There was still something she didn't get. "How did Naruto escape? I thought that Jikoku Doutai could only be used when you can see where you want to go, but Naruto was pressed up against the wall."

Zetsu smirked and the white/darker side of his personality answered in an almost sardonically cheerful voice, like he was getting pleasure out of this. "Naruto's Mangekyou Sharingan is very…unique. Unlike Madara and Itachi's eyes, Naruto's Mangekyo was awakened by the Kyuubi's chakra through a seal placed on him by the Forth. Since they were awakened they have been," Zetsu paused, searching for the right word, "'feeding' off the Kyuubi's chakra.

"The Sharingan posses the inept ability to control the power of the bijuu, and the Fourth found a way utilize that to allow him to manipulate its chakra to form a new version of the Mangekyou with whatever distinct abilities he chose to create. Naruto awakened another ability sometime since I last saw him. I couldn't get all of it, but from what I did get I'm guessing Naruto has a sort of second sight. It allows him to see places far away from him, which he can simply spy on or use Jikoku Doutai to teleport to. But he can't control it right now. It could of taken him anywhere."

Shikyo grimaced. Naruto could be anywhere? If they didn't find Naruto sooner rather than later Leader would be thoroughly pissed at her. Still though, despite the severity of the situation, she couldn't help but wonder upon the boy's eyes. The abilities the Fourth had given Naruto would make the boy impossible to hit with almost any attack if they were used to their fullest. It would be almost like a pumped up version of the Fourth signature technique. To think late Hokage would have gone to such lengths to ensure his child's protection…

"Do you know how many techniques his Mangekyou has?" Shikyo asked, momentarily forgetting the situation as she lost herself in curiosity.

The black side smiled with an almost childlike excitement and anticipation. "Itachi's has three, but there are…ways, to activate the fourth. The Forth, being Hokage, probably knew this. Which means it is likely that he sealed at least four abilities into the Naruto's eyes."

Shikyo drifted off into thought. The first ability, 'Jikoku Doutai', as he had dubbed it, was a huge Tai jutsu advantage while and the second was much more broad, giving him the ability to watch in on an area far away. When used in conjunction with Jikoku Doutai, it also allowed him to travel vast distances in a millisecond. She could only imagine what the last one, possibly two, jutsu sealed into those eyes would be.

"I hope you realize that if Naruto doesn't join because of this incident leader may hold you responsible, and you remember what he did to Pein… Wasn't even any body left for me to 'dispose' of."

**Author's Note**: Wow, this possibly my shortest chapter yet, but I just couldn't NOT update Yokai Sharingan it knowing how long it had been. Got sort of shitty near the end, but come on, the last half of the chapter I wrote in like half an hour, so yeah. Oh, I'm taking up beta reading. I just finished a three-year English program and I'm pretty confident in my abilities. Though I and still rather horrible at editing my own writing, as is most likely obvious.

Well, anyways, as you might have guessed from Zetsu's final remark, Pein is dead. The current leader, the guy described in the last chapter obviously, killed him and stole his position as AL. Sorry all Pein fans, but I just didn't like him all that much, especially after the 'Jiraiya incident'. I'm probably not going to go into detail about what happened to Konan for a while, so don't ask. The rest of this story will probably skew pretty far from the actual plot of Naruto, so you have been warned.


	10. Grave Decisions

**Author's note**: Hello everyone, I would like to thank everyone who is still reading. I apologies for the mega late update (almost two full years), and hope to post _much_ more quickly in the future. Between college, my girlfriend, family, and work I haven't had much time to do much writing. Then I got this message from a reader of mine (Kage Husha). You can thank K.H. for the update as it was them who reminded me that it had been almost two full years since my last update. I thought I better whip something up, and this is the result.

On a side note, I will now be using the Fourth Hokage's real name: Minato Namikaze. I also don't have a beta right now, so forgive the grammar/spelling mistakes. Anyway, you probably just want to read the story, and for anyone who bothered reading this I applaud you. On with the story.

_Italicized _– for emphasis/thoughts

**Bold** – demon or god talking

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, more's the pity.

* * *

End of last chapter:

Grass grew untamed around two mounds of earth. The sun reflected off a monstrously huge knife-like butcher blade, which stabbed into the larger of the two mounds. They were graves, graves that he had dug himself just a matter of months ago. It had been the first time he had encountered death on a mission. The burial site of Zabuza and Haku.

He could hear Temari yelling at him, but her voice seemed a distant background noise. _I hope this works_. Using the last of his chakra Naruto tried desperately to activate his Jikoku Doutai.

He felt the familiar feeling of his body losing definition and then it was over. His eyes slowly came to focus and he realized he was lying on his back in the grass. Temari was on top of him clutching at his shirt. Tears streamed down her face and he could hear her screaming his name over and over, but he just couldn't answer. He was just too tired.

So…tired…

Blackness consumed his world.

* * *

The rain started not long after she built the shelter–a small structure made of branches draped over a hollow in the roots of a mammoth sized tree. Temari sat there, back propped against one of the roots, eyes closed, listening to the rain crash like bullets against the muddied earth. Naruto's prone form lay next to her, his head resting in her lap.

Like an angry bee, the memory of what took place those few hours previous buzzed around the inside of her head relentlessly. The more she tried to figure out what the hell had happened the more agitated she became.

It mades no sense.

Temari titled her head forward, peering upon Naruto's face with something akin to wonder twinkling within her blue eyes. When they first appeared in the clearing he was in such bad shape, she thought he was going to die. But now he seemed no worse for the wear, not a scratch or a bruise blemishing his tanned skin.

"What are you?" the hushed words slipped from her lips like water from glass, to be heard by none but her.

She thought back to the first timer she saw him heal, how he had seemed almost downcast, and withdrew into himself. Why would someone be ashamed of such an ability?

Silence brought Temari from her thoughts. It had stopped raining. Removing Naruto's head from her lap, she slid into a crouching position. She pushed through the branches above her to form a hole like exit from the hollow. Lithely crawling out the hole, she jumped away from the tree.

A narrow pond had formed amid the dimpled ground of the clearing. The muddied water covered grass and fallen leaves, dark branches littered the area, their awkward forms protruded from the water's shallow surface like the ribs of some great beast from years past. Amid it all two mounds crested over the surface, miniature islands side by side. Her eyes were drawn to them, and the large blade the stood in the heart of the larger isle. She recognized them as graves, and couldn't help but wonder whose. What importance did this place hold? Why had they appeared here? She knew Naruto could preform a teleportion jutsu, but she didn't know he could travel such distances. This was definitely not fire country.

Naruto landed next to her, catching Temari off-guard. _Holy crap he moves quietly, when did he wake up?_

"Sorry for getting you involved in this." Naruto said quietly.

"That girl that attacked us, she was wearing a scratched out sound forehead-protector."

Naruto seemed to become even more tense, if that was possible. Temari grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards her. She looked up at his face, trying to get him to look at her. He didn't comply, instead he cast his eyes out towards the graves, jaw clenching and un-clenching, as if some internal struggle was reaching the boiling point.

"Akatsuki. She was an Akatsuki. So far I have been contacted by three of them, Itachi, some shark looking guy and her. They want me to join them." His arm moved towards his stomach, before falling back to his side. "I knew they were dangerous, but I never gave them to much thought because they seemed to keep their distance. Now I'm not sure what to think. All I know is that they are all really powerful, and they want the bijuu."

This left her confused. The bijuu, beasts more powerful than all but the stongest shinobi. Considered by most to be a resource, chakra weapons used in times of war. They wanted to collect them? All of them? To what end? The combined power of such monstrosities could be devastating. "How do they plan to go about doing that? Each of the tailed beast are in the possession of the five great shinobi nations. How can they-?"

"I don't know just yet. I just know that they want them, all of them. That's why the want to recruit me I guess."

"What, so you can help them capture the beasts?" Temari asked curiously, not quite sure how he could help. In order to collect the tailed beasts one would have to go up against the hidden villages that possessed them. That would require the power of multiple S-rank ninja, at least.

"Not exactly." Naruto's words came out slow and quiet, and as he spoke he lifted the front of his shirt up, exposing a black seal inked across his skin. "Temari, I-Im a jinchuriki. A host for the Kyuubi no Kitsune." Temari's jaw dropped, shocked. Naruto was a container?! What about the stories of the Fourth Hokage destroying the Kyuubi, that was all a cover?

"Then...that's how you heal so quickly, and the second chakra nature, and that night with the killer intent and the-the..." She trailed off. It made sense now. Naruto's gaze rested upon his feet, as if afraid to look upon her face.

_So that's why he looks ashamed whenever he heals_.

Temari slid her arms around his torso, learning into his chest, a blush painted her cheeks red. She could hear his heat beating fast as a frightened rabbit. One, two, she counted the seconds before he returned her embrace, overcoming his momentary shock.

"You don't think I'm a monster? You're not afraid?" Naruto whispered into her ear, surprise lacing his voice. How could he think she'd be afraid of him? After all that had happened, she knew he was anything but a monster.

"Naruto, there's a reason they call containers Jinchuriki. It means human sacrifice. You're the jailer of the most dangerous monster in existence. Every breath you take is a sacrifice made to keep the world safe. It's a burden none should have to carry alone."

She snuggled closer to him, listening to his heart thumping in his chest, she let her questions and worries fall away. This felt right. She could feel his breath grow faster, brushing against her skin. It sent tingles dancing down her spine.

"I'm not going back." Temari withdrew, confused. What did he mean? "I can't return to Konoha."

Tamari jumped back in surprize. "We have to go back! Where else would we go?"

Naruto frowned, she didn't get it. "Temari, _I _can't go back. Before I teleported us out of there I saw something. Jiraiya and Tsunade were talking about me. He's afraid that I'm going to waste my life chasing Sasuke. He said he would refuse to train me. Because of my Jinchuriki status, and being the only Uchiha left in Konoha, Tsunade said I would have to be left under constant supervision. Jiraiya was the only person Tsunade trusted with me, now that he wont train me there is no one who can take me outside the village. I'd be stuck there, like a house cat, unable to look for Sasuke. Do you understand?

Temari opened her mouth to respond, but Naruto kept on going. "I'm sorry that you had to get involed in this. We are in the Land of Waves, a island that sits off the coast of the Land of Fire. I know some people from here that know the route to Konoha. I'll get you an escort as soon as possible."

Temari was dumbfounded. He was ditching her? After all that had happened he was freaking dumping her on some stupid escort? _Hell to the freaking no!_

"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I still have to teach you wind manipulation."

Naruto was taken aback for a moment, unsure of what she was implying. "You want to stay with me? I could be labeled a missing ninja. People _will _come looking for me. You could get hurt if it comes down to a battle."

"I'm a ninja Naruto. Ninja take risks."

"What about your brothers? I have no family, but you? Gaara and Kakuro will go crazy if you just disappear with me." Naruto sent her a quizzical look, as if trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"We'll send a message to them. Your a summoner aren't you? Give one of your summons a letter to deliver. I know Gaara, he'll understand. Kakuro might not take it so easily, but that's fine. I wont let you do this alone." Temari reached out, grabbing his hand with hers. Their fingers interlocked, and she looked into his eyes with a surety that he couldn't deny. She wouldn't leave him, he knew it. Letting out an exasperated sigh to hold back the smile that was trying to break across his face, he caved. He wouldn't admit it just yet, but he was glad Temari wanted to come with him.

"So you said we are in Wave?"

Naruto nodded, turning to look at the graves. Why here? He wasn't sure why, but a part of him felt attacked to this place. Like there was something he needed to do.

"This is the grave of Zabuza Momochi and his former companion Haku." Naruto's eyes glazed over, replaying the memories of the mission. "They were the first enemies I ever encountered on a mission. I've always wondered if things had happened differently, maybe we could have been friends. It's funny, but I never thought they were that bad. They were just trying to make a better world."

Naruto grimaced. He suddenly knew why he had come here. He never truly viewed them as an enemy. Zabuza wanted to get enough money to finance a rebellion to overthrow a tyrant. The Mizukage, a cruel leader whose rule had led Kirigakure into a period of fear and blood. Had his goals not been admirable? He could not help but feel as if those two had been pitted against insurmountable odds, and left no choice but to run and take what ever jobs they could.

"Temari, you think that sword could be used similarly to your fan?" Naruto asked, feeling drawn to the blade. Temari look over at it, noting the large whole near the tip.

"Well, not as effectively, but it is fairly wide. It could work I suppose. Though with a blade like that it would be more practical to simply use it in close quarters, channeling you wind natured chakra into it to increase is cutting power.

Naruto grinned. Maybe Zabuza could help him make a better world, or at least his blade could. Jumping on the surface of the water, he landed on the wet, grass covered grave. His arm lurched forward, gripping the massive handle tightly. Flexing, he eased the blade out, careful to keep his balance.

"Wow it's heavy." He grunted as he hefted the sword. Looking over at Temari he swung the blade around, trying to get a feel for it. It was just so damn big! He didn't know how effectively he could wield such a blade. _I have three years to learn._

"There's a town about ten minutes that way. I know a family there, we might be able to stay there for the night." Naruto said, pointing with the sword. _Hopfully there's some kind of weapons shop in town I can stop by to get a holster for this thing_. "Tomorrow we can try and figure this whole thing out."

* * *

The man she simply knew as 'Leader' sat before her, leaning forward in his throne-like chair, fingers rapping against the stone armrest. He only did that when he was anxious. She didn't like it when he was anxious. Shikyo gasped as a wave of killer intent, greater than any she had ever felt before, wrapped around her; a suffocating blanket that sent her heart into a frenzy.

"_What_?" His red eyes, burning like coals in the shadows from behind a curtain his wild blond hair. Shikyo fell to her knees, right hand edging slowly towards the largest of her bells.

"It's likely Naruto now thinks I attacked him and his friend. With this newly awakened ability, all efforts in tracking him could prove fruitless." Shikyo's voice did not display her fear, instead it remained steady and strong, though it failed to maintain its former cocky air. She looked up at his face, attempting to read his features. His face remained dark, un-impressioned, void of emotion.

"At least he is no longer in the village." The killing intent lessened, until only his ever constant aura remained. Shikyo breathed, letting her hand fall to her side. What had she been thinking? If he attacked her, she wouldn't last more than a few brief moments, not unless he wanted her to.

"By himself, he can be more easily persuaded to join us, and Konoha will be unable to interfere. Hopefully this can be fixed." The leader seemed to relax, leaning back in his chair.

"Shikyo, one more thing." He looked down at her, eyes flashing dangerously. "Next time I call, you will come." She nodded, before standing up and disappearing in a poof of smoke.

"Zetsu, what of this new ability?"

The darker side of Zetsu's facde began to smirk. "It was exactly as you predicted. The seal is feeding off the beast's chakra, using it's power to awaken abilities within his eyes." Zetsu paused, and the white side of his face picked up from where he left off.

"The Mangekyo has been known to have power over the Kyuubi. The Fourth's abilities with sealing jutsu were so great, he was able to create a mechanism within the seal capable using the Kyuubi's own chakra as a power source. This mechanism works to create special predefined jutsu, specifically designed for Naruto by Minato himself. The more of the Kyuubi's power Naruto uses, the faster the eyes will advance.

"During his encounter with Shikyo, Naruto awakened another ability. I couldn't get all of it, but from what I saw I'm guessing Naruto has a sort of second sight. It will allow him to see places far away from him, which he can simply spy on or use Jikoku Doutai to teleport to."

The blond smiled as Zetsu finished his little explanation. This was getting interesting._ You'll be mine soon Naruto. _

"Zetsu," He paused, absently fingering the chain that hung around his neck,"find him before Konoha does. Make sure they don't get close to him."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Wow, that was almost painful to write. The whole thing took me about four hours, more or less. Pretty crappy, but what you going to do. Hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to update in the next week/month, but no guarantees. Leave me some reviews with your comments, and opinions. Oh, by the way, the more reviews I get the faster I update. Each one is a little reminder that I need to start on my next chapter. Had I not received that message from Kage Husha just as I had a little bit of wiggle room in my schedule, it could have been another year before I wrote this.

Oh, random challenge. If I hit 700 reviews then I'll post the next chapter the day of/after the 700'th review, and give the 700'th reviewer a shout out. Lol, as I'd get 700 reviews with this crap. Dare to dream. :D


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